Fates Bound
by Jade Lily77
Summary: She is the dutiful kunoichi of Konoha. He is the heir of the traitorous Uchiha clan. Like water and fire, they're only meant to be enemies. But fates are cruel. Things would never be that simple. Naruto retold with a lot of what ifs.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: **_**Please read this so you can understand my story better.**_

**_When I read a story or a manga, I usually think: 'Um… what if this character was like this and this character were like that, how the plot would turn out?' So basically, I wrote this story gathering all my random thoughts when I read Naruto in one single plot._**

_**There would be changes in some of the character's backgrounds. First of all, Haruno Sakura's. In my story, she was born in a prestigious ninja clan (I really don't understand why Kishimoto san never let us know much about her family in the manga. Unless he has some**_**specific **_**reason). She were raised differently so there would be no Sakura the fan girl. Her personality would be more like herself in the Shipuuden (hope that doesn't count as OOC).**_

**_I would tell you the changes in other character's profiles when the time is right._**

**_Now come the parts I would insert in all my author's notes._**

**_Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto. The original manga belongs to Masashi Kishimoto san._**

**_Warning: I'm an Asian. English is a lot different from my first language. Please forgive if sometimes the word I choose to use isn't suited the context and any spelling- grammar mistake I have made and will make._**

**_Done. On with the story._**

* * *

Chapter 1: "Like it or not, we're a team now."

Sakura slowly combed her long, silky pink hair and looked at her reflection in the mirror. The Konoha ninja headband shined proudly on her head, replaced her usual red ribbon. She couldn't help but sighed silently. Her parents was against her becoming a ninja at first and she perfectly understood their reasons. Still, she was determined so they gave up in the end.

Even though if she were true to herself, she wasn't so sure if she had chose the right path.

A knock on her door interrupted her thoughts.

"Sakura sama, is time," her family's loyal butler called her.

"Yes, I know, Takeshi san! I'm coming!" she answered then stepped out of her room, didn't forget to add, "And I told you just Sakura or Sakura chan is fine. You have been taking care of me ever since I was little. You're like family to me."

Takeshi, the butler, was already in his 60's but once been a high level ninja so he still looked strong and healthy, only the wisdom on his face showed his age. The man shook his head slightly. "That wouldn't be appropriate. Your parents is away on their research trip so you're the head of the Haruno clan for now."

Knowing she couldn't ague further in the matter, the pink haired girl just frowned a bit then turned and headed to the front door with Takeshi followed behind. "Anyway, from now on I will be very busy with training and mission so please, help me take care of everything in the Haruno main house."

"Don't said that, Sakura sama. It is my duty," the old butler answered.

The two passed by some maids, they bowed their heads to Sakura politely. She gently nodded to them in response.

"I can't believe you already graduated. Time sure is fast," Takeshi continued saying.

Sakura just turned her head to look at him and smiled softly.

Then as she stepped out of the Haruno mansion, the butler kept watching her until her figure disappeared in the crowded street. He sighed. Sakura was like a granddaughter to him, he could tell behind those smiles that she always gave out so freely was a hidden sadness.

_'I hope they put her in a good team so she would have comrades that support and protect her.'_

* * *

Sakura reached her class. The first scene greeted her was a very familiar one: about six or seven girls, surrounding the famous, handsome Uchiha Sasuke, arguing about who would get to sit next to him while the Uchiha completely ignored them, an indifferent look on his face.

The girls was getting louder and louder, Sakura couldn't help but scowled._ 'Gee, don't they have any pride?'_ And only stopped when she heard a shy voice called her.

"Um..., hello, Sakura chan."

She turned around and saw her best friend Hinata.

"Hinata chan!" the pink haired girl happily said. "I'm so glad we both passed the test! Maybe we'll get to be in the same team."

"I... hope so too ... Sakura chan," Hinata replied, blushing slightly.

To be honest, Sakura thought she was very lucky to have Hinata as her best friend. It was really hard to find a girl in her class -scratched that- in her entire academy who wasn't Sasuke's fan and wasn't squealing whenever she saw him.

And as for Hinata, Sakura was the only one she could talk to without stuttering too much.

They kept on chatting casually and didn't notice Iruka sensei entered the classroom. He looked disapprovingly at Sasuke's fan girls who was still arguing then started speaking, "Everyone go back to your seat! The orientation meeting start now!"

The fan girls did stop their argument but no one left their place, each waited for the other to give up. Iruka sighed deeply and searched around, found Sakura and Hinata near there still finding their seat since they wanted two places next to each other. He ordered, "Haruno, Hyuga, you two take the seats next to Uchiha!"

The said two girls stiffened uncomfortably but obeyed nonetheless, received death glares from all the fan girls. Hinata was a bit scared while Sakura looked at them defiantly, pulled her best friend down to her seat. Now left with nothing to argue about, the fan girls dispersed.

Right then, someone ran straight in the class. Sakura saw a blur of blond hair before she heard him exclaimed, "Sorry sensei, I'm late!"

Iruka shook his head, held back a sigh. "That's nothing new Uzumaki. Go to your seat!"

There was whispers around the class, some students was surprised that Uzumaki Naruto the number one knuckle head even passed the exam at all, some simply said 'idiot'. Sakura took a glance at Hinata and saw she was blushing a deep shade of red. She smiled knowingly.

Ignored all the whispering. Naruto kept a cheerful smile on his face and looked for a seat. He found one that right in front of Hinata's.

If possible, Hinata blushed a deeper shade of red when Naruto sat down, turned around and waved at her and Sakura. "Hi, Sakura chan, Hinata chan!"

Then he glared at Sasuke who glared back.

_'What's with them?'_ Sakura wondered, but she quickly forgot about it as Iruka spoke up.

"Now for the arrangement. We will divide you all into team of 3 members and a Jounin instructor."

Sasuke shifted on his seat._ 'Team? That would just slow you down.'_

"So first, team 7," Iruka continued. "Uzumaki Naruto".

Naruto stood up, one hand in the air enthusiastically. "Here!"

"Haruno Sakura".

The pink haired girl startled a little when she heard her name. Naruto turned to her. "Oh great! We're in the same team, Sakura chan!"

"…and Uchiha Sasuke."

…

"What?!" Naruto jerked his head back, yelled furiously.

He wasn't the only one who was unhappy with the arrangement. All Sasuke's fan girls was opposing angrily. Even Sasuke himself and Sakura had a surprised and displeased look on their faces. Naruto pointed a finger at Sasuke, complained, "Sensei! Why someone as great as myself have to be in the same team with this idiot?!"

Iruka calmly replied, "We arranged people according to their skill and strength so all the team will be balance in power. You, Naruto, had worst score in the graduation exam. Therefore, we put you in the same team with those two who had the first and second highest scores. This is the final decision, there will be no changes. Understood?"

Laughter erupted in the class. One student even said loudly, "Oh my God! Just how bad his score was that they had to put the best and the second in class with him to** balance the power**?"

Naruto sat down, his ears redden. Sasuke said monotonously, "Heard that? Just make sure you don't get in my way."

Sakura scowled slightly at him. She wasn't actually close to Naruto but she felt bad for him at the moment. Hinata looked at the blond, worried, she wanted to say something but the words just didn't come out.

Still, it wasn't Naruto's nature to be downhearted for long. He soon looked up, smiling happily again.

'_Well, at least I got to be in the same team with Sakura chan,'_ he thought.

* * *

After informed all the new teams about the time and place they would meet their instructors, Iruka dismissed the class and left. He was about taking a turn into the teachers office when he heard a soft voice called him.

"Um... Sensei?"

Iruka looked back and saw Sakura standing behind him. "What's the matter?"

The girl seemed unsure, like she didn't know if she should ask or not but asked anyway. "Why did you put me in the same team with him? You know, Sasuke."

Iruka sighed. "I told you..."

"No matter how bad Naruto was in the test, put two best students in the same team with him is too much. If he was that bad he'd failed the test already," Sakura interrupted.

_'Almost forgot, she's the sharp minded one,'_ the sensei thought.

"Actually, in your team's case," he admitted, "I have noting to do with it."

Sakura gave him a questioning look. He continued, "The Third Hokage chose members of your team himself. He's the one who put you three together."

Then he went into the office, left behind a perplexed Sakura.

"Since when did the Hokage interfere with the academy's business anyway? And it's not like he didn't know..." she mumbled.

* * *

3 o'clock in the afternoon. Sakura and her new teammates had waited for 2 and a half hours and now they were the only people left in the class. Their instructor still no where to be seen.

"Arg! What kind of instructor late for 2 and a half hours?" Naruto exclaimed angrily. "All the other teams met their instructors and left a long time ago already!"

"Getting angry isn't gonna help, Naruto," Sakura told him, even though she was also bored.

He paced the room impatiently for awhile then suddenly stopped, grinning.

The girl said, alarmed, "I don't like that look."

"What? He should be punish for being late, right?" Naruto replied as he bought a chair close to the door, climbed on, sliced the door open a bit and put the board eraser in between the crack.

Sakura shook her head. "Naruto, he's a Jounin. There's no way he'd fall for that."

Sasuke had been quiet the whole time, but he silently agreed with her. Still, none of them made any attempt to stop Naruto's prank.

30 minutes later, to their surprises, their instructor actually fell for it.

Naruto was the first to react. He laughed so hard that he almost fell to the floor.

Sakura watched their instructor's expression warily but it kinda hard to tell if he was angry or not since the lower half or his face was hidden in a mask, even one of his eyes were covered by the Konoha headband. She could only see the other eye and his silver, messy hair.

Sasuke narrowed his eyes in suspicion._ 'And this guy is a Jounin?'_

The Jounin acted like noting happen, like he didn't even feel the board eraser hit his head. He said coolly, "Let see... my first impression of this team..." Pretended to think. "... you're a bunch of idiots!"

The blond immediately received death glares from his teammates.

"I'm being called an idiot, first time in my life! Thanks to you, Naruto!" Sakura hissed, but barely audible.

* * *

Soon, they found themselves on the roof top of the academy. Their instructor decided he doesn't like the classroom so much. Now he sat in front of them and started speaking, "First of all, let's introduce ourselves, shall we?"

Sakura slowly raised her hand.

"Yes, what is it?"

"Well, sensei, we already know each other and I thought Iruka sensei should have sent you our profiles by now?"

The instructor pulled out some folders in a swift movement -made Sakura wonder where the hell he took them from- flipped through them then said, "Right, right. Birth date, skill, scores... Why don't we talk about things that more interesting?"

"Like what, sensei?" Naruto asked.

"What you like, what you hate. Your hobbies. Dreams for the future. Things like that."

Sasuke gave a scowl. _'What the heck? Ninja are not supposed to let other know what he likes or dislikes. His enemies could use those against him later.'_

He heard Sakura suggested, "Then why don't you go first sensei? So we know how to do it."

_'Smart one,'_ he thought but of course he'd never say that out loud.

The instructor nodded his head. "Very well. My name is Hatake Kakashi. Things I like and things I hate... I don't feel like telling you."

Naruto seemed surprised, Sakura kept her calm face while Sasuke smirked._ 'As expected.'_

"I have plenty of hobbies," Kakashi continued. "Dreams for the future... I've never really thought about it."

Then he looked at them. "Your turn. Lady first, ne?"

Sakura thought for a few seconds. "Um…My name is Haruro Sakura. I like plenty of things but hate as many too. I usually spend the weekends assisting at Konoha infirmary to improve my medic skill but I'm not sure if that could call a hobby. I haven't think about my dream for the future since there's something I have to accomplish first."

Sasuke stared at her for a brief moment with mild surprise on his face but it quickly vanished. Kakashi narrowed his eyes._ 'This girl is still...'_

Naruto thought silently,_ 'Gee, her introduction was just like Kakashi sensei's. In the end all the information was things we already know or things they simply didn't want to tell us.'_ He decided he would do something different. "My turn, right? My name is Uzumaki Naruto. I like instant ramen but hate the 3 minutes I have to wait for them to cook. My hobby is to eat ramen at the Ichiraku stand. My dream for the future is to become the greatest Hokage ever!"

He paused to fix his headband while everyone's eyes was now on him. "When I did, people would have to acknowledge me, stop disrespecting me and admit I'm a great and respectable person!"

Sakura gave him a soft smile. She knew almost all the villagers, especially the adults, had always shunned him for some reason she didn't know. Once she asked her father about it but he simply smiled warmly then said, _"Don't let other's point of view affect your own judgment too much."_

And her judgment told her the blond was fine enough.

Now left only Sasuke. Everyone looked at him expectantly. The Uchiha boy kept silent. He'd rather say nothing but it seemed Kakashi didn't plan on letting them leave until all the introductions are made so he spoke in the end, his face darken, "My name is Uchiha Sasuke. I hate a lot of things and don't like anything particularly. I don't have time for hobby. What I have isn't a dream because I will make it reality. I'm gonna restore my clan and **destroy one certain someone**."

…

_'This one got serious problems, too,'_ Kakashi thought, concerned.

Naruto silently gulped._ 'He so scary! I hope that 'someone' isn't me.'_

Sakura turned her head away and let her pink locks fell down to cover her eyes so no one could see the sadness in them.

The Jounin cleared his throat and started to speak again, removed the uncomfortable silence, "Alright! Now we're done with the introductions. I'm glad that all three of you are unique and have your own ideal. Tomorrow at 5 am, gather at the training field number 34. Remember to bring your ninja gears. You're gonna take the Genin exam there."

Naruto asked, surprised, "What! Another exam? Then what the graduation exam even for?"

"That exam was to choose students who has ability to become Genin." Kakashi answered. "There are 27 students passed the graduation exam this time. We would only let three teams pass the next stage. Therefore your chance of fail is up to..."

"66 percent?" Sakura continued his words.

He nodded. "Yeah, and all the instructors are allowed to choose the content of the exam for his students himself. So I have this warning for all of you…" Paused mysteriously. "**Don't eat breakfast.**"

All eyes stared at him for what seemed like a weird warning.

"Or you'll **puke**. See ya!" he finished with a sly smile then disappeared before any of his students recovered from the shock.

"What was that about?" Naruto wondered out loud.

Sakura turned to her teammates and said in a low voice, "You guys heard any rumor about him?"

This even caught Sasuke's attention. Naruto urged, "What? What? Tell us Sakura!"

"Among all the teams that the academy sent to him to test. There wasn't a single one had been able to pass. He failed them all."

Sasuke's brows furrowed while Naruto's eyes widened. "Could it because his test was harder than the other's?! Then it's no fair for us!" he whined.

The Uchiha boy stood up, let out a 'hn' then walked away. He very well should train some more today. Sakura's eyes followed him until he was completely out of sight.

She said to Naruto, reassuringly, "Don't worry. I think everything is gonna be fine. You'd never know, this can even be a good luck in disguise."

The blond smiled. Still, he wondered -if they did pass the Genin test- how could study under a weird Jounin who even fell for a simple prank be 'a good luck in disguise'.

* * *

**A/N: **_**I know, I left a lot of things untold. Like why Sakura's parents was against her becoming a ninja even though their family belonges to a ninja clan and what happened in the past that made Sakura and Sasuke so uncomfortable being in the same team? But sorry, those things wouldn't be reveal until quite a few chapters later.**_

_**If you want to know, here something about**_**Sakura's parents**_**: Her father is a former high level ninja now retired and became a professor specializes in research and invent new jutsu (no, he's not like Orochimaru. I mean, there've got to be someone who does those things the right way right? Or else where all the cool jutsu came from?). Her mother is a medic nin. She is the first one who taught Sakura Medical ninjutsu. Now she follows Sakura's father in all of his research trips to help him with her medical knowledge (she's**_**so not **_**like Kabuto either!).**_

**_Oh, and Takeshi the old butler would appear again later in the story so remember him._**

_**I'll try to put more Sasuke's POV in the next chapter, hopefully won't make him OOC though and last but not least,**_**review **_**to let me know how you think about my first attempt at fanfic, please!**_


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: **_**CherryBlossoms016**_ _**are you reading this? Have you received my message yet? If you haven't I'll just write it here: Thanks for your compliment and yes, it would be great if you have time to help me edit my story. But I don't know how a beta-reader works, can you review or send me a message to tell me more about it, please?**_

_**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto. The original manga belongs to Masashi Kishimoto san.**_

_**Warning: I'm an Asian. English is a lot different from my first language. Please forgive if sometimes the ******__word I choose to use isn't suited_ the context and any spelling- grammar mistake I have made and will make.

* * *

Chapter 2: "The Genin exam."

When Sasuke returned to his apartment the sun had set for a long time. He sat down on the couch, realized his mood didn't get any better even after an intense training resulted in him burning down all the practice targets to ashes with his family's infamous fire jutsu.

Today was probably one of his worst days. Those people from the academy put him in the same team with Uzumaki Naruto, an idiot who had no talent in ninja skill category and seemed like just couldn't survive a single day without getting in trouble.

And Sakura...

He gritted his teeth. Why her of all people? Still, for some strange reason he felt relieved at the same time. Well, at least that better than being in the same team with a fan girl. Sure, he knew among all the female students who graduated this year there was that Hyuga who wasn't his fan either but that girl was weak and always stuttering despite being the heiress of a prestigious clan. Sakura, on the other hand, was the second best in class, only after Sasuke himself.

The last one, instructor Hatake Kakashi.

He scowled when he thought of this person. Seeing the Jounin couldn't avoid Naruto's lame prank was enough to make one doubtful. His behavior was... strange, too. Sasuke's purpose was to become more powerful to achieve his goal. What could he learn from such a ninja? Heck! No way he would call that person 'sensei'.

But then, he remembered Sakura's words, _"Among all the teams that the academy sent to him to test. There wasn't a single one had been able to pass. He failed them all."_

_'Hn, how hard can it be?'_ He smirked confidently.

* * *

Sasuke woke up early. He finished his morning routine and checked his ninja gears for the second time. The idea to eat breakfast just to spite the weird Jounin crossed his mind but he decided against it. It wasn't good to participate in a test that involved fighting with a full stomach -besides, he wasn't really hungry.

Looked at the clock, he saw it was only 4:30.

_'Better early than late. And I can take my time there,'_ he thought.

So he got out of his apartment and walked slowly to the training field 34 but soon wished he didn't come so early when he saw there was only Sakura at the place. _'Great! Now there'd be an awkward silence.'_

Not that he minded the silence but the awkward part was annoying. Even more annoying that he felt awkward at all.

Sakura heard footsteps behind her and turned around to see him. Obviously, she was uncomfortable as well but managed to say, "Good morning, Sasuke... kun." She added the suffix hesitantly.

"Aa," Sasuke replied, his face passive.

Then he sat down on the field, kept a distance from Sakura, his back faced her. No other words exchanged between them after that. Luckily, only fifteen minutes later Naruto appeared, relieved Sakura from her awkwardness.

"Sakura chan! You're early!"

She smiled brightly to him while Sasuke muttered, "Dobe, you're just late."

"Well, good morning to you too, teme!" the blond sneered.

After that came a glaring contest. Sakura sweat dropped. _'How wonderful! They're so close they have nicknames for each other,'_ she thought ironically. _'We're such a promising team.'_

They waited, waited and waited. The person who had the most important role in the test Hatake Kakashi still hadn't showed up. At least they didn't have to stay in uncomfortable silence since Naruto was there. He cheerily talked to Sakura about all kind of stuffs while she just listened quietly, sometimes smiled or said a few words. Sasuke, on the other hand, ignored them.

However, after several hours, even Naruto ran out of things to talk. Sakura didn't wear a watch but there no need one to know Kakashi was terribly late. She could feel Sasuke shifted behind her in annoyance while Naruto started muttering complaints.

_'Should have seen this coming from yesterday's experience,'_ the pink haired girl reminded herself as her hunger kicked in. _'And I should have ate breakfast, too. This is what I got for being obedient.'_

A 'puff' sound interrupted her sour thoughts and Kakashi appeared, at last.

"Yo!" he coolly said, clearly having no remorse.

Naruto stood straight up, pointed an accusing finger at him. "You're late!"

"Oh, yeah." He scratched his head. " On my way here I saw a black cat so I had to avoid it and take a longer road instead but then I got lost."

Naruto gaped at him in disbelief. Sasuke scowled and Sakura winced. _'Oh God! If he couldn't come up with any better excuse I'd rather he didn't explain at all.'_

Paying no attention to his students reaction, Kakashi pulled out an alarm clock from his pocket then put it down on a nearby stone. "All right! It's 10:45 now. I'll explain the conditions and rules of the Genin test in fifteen minutes then you guys will have one hour to finish it."

He showed them two small, shiny bells. "Your objective is to try and use any way you can to take these bells from me. I allow every jutsu and trick. However," Added with a serious tone, "don't expect I'll go easy on you just because you're still a student."

That surely put some tension in the air. Sakura noticed, "Sensei, there are only two bells for the three of us?"

The Jounin smiled mysteriously behind his mask. "Well, that's the point. Not all of you will pass this test."

Naruto and Sakura looked at each other while Sasuke's expression hardened.

"That doesn't mean there are two of you that will pass this test for sure. Actually, there's a high chance none of you will pass at all so the reason I only prepared two bells was most likely to make things more... dramatic." Kakashi said with a nonchalant attitude.

_'Am I the only one who thinks he's weird?'_ Naruto turned to his teammates and according to the looks on their faces they'd been thinking the same thing too.

Kakashi continued, "There are other rules. First, if you wasn't able to complete the test before noon you would be tie up to those..." Pointed to the wooden polls normally use for training. "...and have to watch the others eat lunch while you don't have any. Second, I'm the proctor and judge of this exam. My decision is final. I won't listen to any complaint. Is that clear?"

Sakura and Sasuke frowned. _'That's why he told us not to eat breakfast. To make things harder for us.'_

"No!" Naruto exclaimed, he was a bit touchy when it came to food, especially when his hunger was killing him. "Where the hell all that weird rules came from? Never in my life I heard about such a test. And what's your reason for acting all high and mighty anyway? You've never done anything to earn our respect, more like the other way around!"

Kakashi remained unaffected. "If you talk about your silly prank yesterday. I didn't avoid it because it wasn't worth my effort. Only class clown attempt such cheap tricks."

Naruto growled angrily and took out a kunai, prepared to launch at the Jounin but in a flash Kakashi disappeared only to reappeared behind him. The blond boy found his own weapon now pressed on his neck.

"Don't be so hasty," the silver haired nin said, his voice calm, cold even. "I haven't say 'start' yet."

Both Sakura and Sasuke took a few steps back in caution, shocked by the Jounin's speed. Kakashi released now paled Naruto from his hold then threw back to him his kunai. "Okay! It's almost time. Prepare yourself!"

All three immediately got in their positions, waited for the signal.

"The Genin exam, **start**!" the Jounin said loud and clear.

They jumped to different directions and soon out of sight.

* * *

Kakashi looked around. He knew his students still stayed close by to watch and wait for a chance to strike and was inwardly pleased that he couldn't spot their hiding place or sense their chakra. "Probably got good grade in camouflage class," he mumbled to himself until he felt a presence behind him. _'Except this one.'_

Hidden in a tree, Sakura saw Naruto came out and challenged Kakashi openly. _'What he thinks he's doing? That would never work!'_

Just as she predicted, the Jounin avoided all of Naruto's attacks with ease. He even took out a book to read midway in boredom.

_'But that's exactly the problem here,'_ the kunoichi thought as she watched the blond trying his hardest but to no prevail. _'We were just graduated from the academy, there's no way we can win against a high level Jounin! And he's so experienced I doubt any trick we can come up with could fool him… May be the rumors were true? He purposely made the test impossible to pass?'_

_'No.'_ She shook her head. _'The Hokage wouldn't allow him to become instructor if he was that kind of person. There's got to be a way here. Think, Sakura!'_

Right then Naruto made a huge mistake that let Kakashi get behind him and kick him flew into the river nearby. Sakura gasped silently, wondering if he was okay only to be taken by surprise when seven identical Naruto jumped back out from the water and attacked the Jounin simultaneously.

_'That is Shadow clone jutsu?!'_ she thought in shocked. _'But that jutsu is on Jounin level!'_

Stayed in his hiding place, Sasuke was surprised as well. _'Where the dobe learned that jutsu from?'_

Kakashi didn't even flinch, he smirked and just stood there but then something grabbed him from behind.

"Never let your enemies get behind your back, ne?" he heard Naruto said victoriously. "Gotcha, sensei!"

Seemed like the battle was over as seven Naruto's clones closing in. However, Kakashi disappeared in a puff of smoke right before all the attacks made contact and the real Naruto who was holding him received them instead.

"Aw!" he yelled in pain. "Why did you guys hit me?"

"Sorry, we didn't mean it," all of his clones chorused.

He searched around angrily. "Where did that sneaky sensei go? I've got to get him back for this." Then he turned his eyes to the clones in suspicion. "I know! He used those smoke as camouflage to destroy one of my clones and transform into him to sneak attack me later!" He pointed at a copy of himself. "It's you right?! You hit me the hardest."

Sakura sweat dropped. _'Is that for real? First you underestimated him and now you overestimated him?!'_

_'Dobe, he only used Substitution jutsu and switched himself with a leaf or something so you wouldn't notice,'_ Sasuke scoffed as Naruto and his clones argued and fought each other pathetically. _'He's probably hiding in a tree somewhere laughing at you right now.'_

"Wait, stop!" one of Naruto's clones exclaimed in middle of the fight. "Just cancel the jutsu!"

"Right, why didn't I think of that?" the blond said, made the required handsign. _'Gee, my clone is smarter than me.'_

The clones disappeared, left behind a cut and bruised Naruto. _'That Jounin got me again.' _He sighed with exasperation before caught sight of something shiny.

As he took a better look at the object, he discovered it was one of the bells they was supposed to take to pass the test. He grinned to the ears. _'Maybe my effort wasn't that wasted. He left in a hurry he dropped this.'_ And he reached out to take the thing.

_'Naruto, it's a trap!'_ Sakura almost yelled to warn him but she stopped herself.

Even before Naruto's fingers touched the bell, a robe sprung out from the ground, caught his ankle and pulled him mercilessly towards a tree, hanging him up side down.

"Ah!" he cried in surprise and saw Kakashi came out from his hiding place, his visible eye showed that he was smiling. "I can't believe you fell for that, Naruto," he said as he crouched down to retrieve the bell, attached it back to the side of his belt with the other.

"Well..., of course I know it was a trap. I was just... checking it. Who would have thought you're so cunning. I haven't even touch the bell yet!" It was hard to come up with a good excuse when all the blood from his body ran to his head.

"You realize that just make you sounded more stupid, right?" Kakashi said in mocking tone and laughed lightly. Naruto struggled to escape while making a bunch of angry sounds but that only served for the Jounin to laugh harder.

In the shadow, Sasuke took out several kunai. _'This is my chance, he's finally let down his guard.'_ Then he threw all of them in high speed at the Jounin.

Naruto's eyes widen in horror as Kakashi took the hits and fell down to the ground with a loud 'thud'. "Are you crazy?! You killed the sensei!" he yelled, no idea if it was Sakura or Sasuke, but he assumed it was the later most likely.

Sasuke narrowed his eyes. _'It couldn't be that easy.'_ Then realization hit him. _'Not good! I've got to leave, fast!'_ As he dashed off, Kakashi's body disappeared, revealed a log in its place.

_'He has never let down his guard, he just pretended so,'_ the raven haired boy thought angrily. _'I fell for it, now he knows where I am and gonna go after me.'_

Sakura waited for a few more minutes before got out from her hiding place as well. _'Phew!'_ she breathed out in relief. _'That was the distraction I needed.'_ She went to Naruto who still tried to free himself from the rope, disabled any other trap she could spot. "Do you need help, Naruto?"

Naruto turned his head when he heard the familiar voice. "That would be great, Sakura chan!" The kunoichi threw a kunai at the robe, cut it in half and he fell to the ground. "Ouch!" he cried. "Couldn't you use a more gentle way to help me?".

She smiled. "You're a ninja, you learned how to fall the right way at least, right?"

_'Never knew she has that twisted sense of humor,'_ the blond thought as he rubbed his head which still throbbing from the fall.

The pink haired girl looked around cautiously then looked back at him. "Anyway, I have a plan, wanna hear it?" she spoke in a low voice, almost like a whisper.

"We'll work together to take the bells and kick Sasuke out of our team?" he asked hopefully.

"Not that!" She shook her head. Naruto's face fell. "Now listen..."

* * *

Sasuke stopped on his track. Kakashi had caught up to him and now blocking his way. "Going somewhere?" the Jounin asked, a glint of amusement in his visible eye. Sasuke took out three kunai and threw them all at him.

Of course, Kakashi dodged easily until he heard a snap sound behind his back. He turned and moved just in time before a rain of kunai and shuriken came down.

_'He was aiming at the rope to activate the trap,'_ he thought, slightly surprised. _'So he wasn't running away, he lured me here.'_

Sasuke attacked immediately, he'd got to take this chance before the Jounin regained his balance. He appeared behind Kakashi, tried to kick him with his left leg.

But Kakashi's reaction was too fast. He blocked Sasuke's leg with his hand, grabbed it tightly. Sasuke made a 'tch' sound and twisted his body, use his right hand then his other leg tried to attack the Jounin again only for the Jounin to block them with his other hand as well.

The raven haired boy smirked, in this position the bells was perfectly within his free hand's reach. Kakashi startled when he heard the bells ringing and pushed Sasuke away before he could take a firm hold at them.

_'Almost got it,'_ Sasuke thought, annoyed.

The Jounin regained his composure fast, but he was no longer in amusing mood. "Guess I've got to be more serious with you."

"I'm not like Naruto. You can't take me down easy," Sasuke replied.

Kakashi cocked his head to the side. "You're right, you're different. But different doesn't mean better, you know."

That sure pissed the Uchiha off. He made a long, complicated sequence of hand-signs in a flash then brought his hand to his mouth. _**'Fire style, Fire ball jutsu.'**_

_'What?! He has enough chakra to perform such a technique?!'_ Kakashi thought when a huge, scarlet flame flew towards him.

Sasuke waited until the flame died out, startled seeing Kakashi was no where in sight. _'Did he dodge that? Where is he now?'_ He frantically looked around until he felt something grabbed his ankle but it was too late to react. The Jounin's hand reached out from a small crack in the ground and dragged Sasuke down into it.

"I gave Naruto a Taijutsu lesson and you, a Ninjutsu. That was my favorite Earth style technique, like it?" Kakashi reappeared and looked down at his student, now buried deep to his neck.

Sasuke threw him a defiant look, despite his current circumstances. "Oh trust me, it's a lot more hilarious when you're not the one who got caught in it," Kakashi said jokingly, earned another glare. He turned and started to leave. "Well, two down. Now stay here like a good boy, I'm gonna look for that pink haired girl. She's the only one who still hasn't appear yet. Probably a smart one, or a coward one. It can go both ways."

As the Jounin disappeared from sight, Sasuke struggled to escape but barely able to move one centimeter at a time. _'This is gonna took a while.' _He fumed.

Then he heard footsteps and looked up, saw his two teammates standing right in front of him. Sakura looked like she trying her hardest to hold back a smile. Naruto wasn't that polite, immediately burst out laughing -which made Sasuke's mood get worse- until Sakura elbowed him. "You wasn't any better! I didn't laugh at you, did I?" she scolded.

"Yeah, sorry." He scratched his head. "Need help, teme?"

Sasuke stubbornly turned his head to the side. "No." Naruto scowled, reminded him, "You know we're running out of time, right?"

He just raised an eyebrow, as if said 'so what?'. The blond sighed. "Sakura chan has this theory and a plan that may help all of us pass the test. But first you've got to let us help you get out since it's uncomfortable taking to you like this."

Sasuke averted his gaze to Sakura, a bit doubtful but it was really hard not to trust her bright emerald green eyes. "Fine," he said in the end.

With the help he was able to get out in no time. He asked the pink haired girl while brushed away all the dirt and dust on his clothes, "How could all of us pass? According to the rules there will be only two of us pass at most."

She answered, "I think Kakashi sensei was just bluffing about that. Remember what he said yesterday? _'We would only let three teams pass'. _He said **three teams**, not nine students."

He was not convinced. "They could pick out nine students and rearrange them back to three teams, what's the difference?"

"Then why when Naruto complained about being in the same team with you Iruka sensei said that was the final decision and there will be no changes?" she asked back. "Doesn't it mean pass or fail we're in it together?"

He fell silent. What she said did make sense. Naruto inquired, "Wait, I still don't understand why Kakashi sensei had to lie like that?"

This time it was Sasuke who answered, "He knew our only chance to pass this test is to work together and gang up on him so he made it harder by deceived us and added in twisted rules to turn us against each other."

"Still," he said to Sakura after considered the problem for a bit more. "That's just your theory. What are we gonna do if we teamed up, got the bells but he just let two of us pass?"

Sakura replied right away, she had already thought of this, "Then it is my mistake for has been wrong. I'll step down and let you guys pass."

"But Sakura chan!" Naruto started to protest but Sakura stopped him, "It's okay Naruto. There's always next year." _'Besides, I don't want to be in the same team with Sasuke to begin with,'_ she thought silently. Sasuke only watched her with an unreadable expression in his dark eyes. Naruto wanted to ague more but he completely believed Sakura were right so he shut his mouth.

The raven haired boy asked after that, "So what's the plan?"

"Right, right. You haven't tell me that part yet, Sakura chan," Naruto said with eagerness.

Suddenly, the pink haired girl got a feeling like there was someone watching them but couldn't spot any. Still felt apprehension, she signaled her teammates to come close and talked to them in whispers.

_'My, this girl is too cautious for her age,'_ in a bush, Kakashi thought, he had spied on them the whole time. _'But that makes things more interesting, ne?'_

Then he expertly left without making a sound. _'So she figured out. Guess I've got to change my plan.'_

* * *

Kakashi returned to the place he left the clock and looked at it. _'11:30,'_ he thought. _'They have half an hour. I wonder what they're gonna do.'_

He decided to just stay and wait for them. He started to like those kids actually. It would be too hard for them if they had to run around searching for him, too.

But five, then ten minutes passed and nothing happen. _'What took them so long?'_

Fifteen minutes passed. Even though the Jounin had always proud of his patience, he couldn't help but felt bored.

_'Don't tell me Sakura's plan was to just give up and go home, making me wait for nothing to get back at me,'_ he thought as he took out his favorite book and started flipping through it, his back leaned against a tree.

Like answered to his question, Naruto jumped out into the clearing. "Here you are, sensei!"

"Why said that, Naruto? I wasn't hiding," Kakashi replied while his mind wondered, _'Where the others?'_ The blond charged at him right away without saying anything more and they engaged in a hand to hand combat. It was like déjà vu, Naruto kept on attacking while Kakashi simply dodged, his eyes never left the book.

"Arg! Stop reading that stupid book and take me on seriously. Or I swear I'll tear that book to shred!" Naruto yelled furiously.

The Jounin didn't comply, his face remained indifferent. Then he felt something. About a hundred of shuriken and kunai appeared out of nowhere and flew towards the two from all directions.

_'Sasuke's specialty,'_ he thought. _'This many. He probably used Sakura's and Naruto's weapons, too. But he's gonna take Naruto down with me?'_ Right then, Naruto smirked, disappeared in a puff of smoke. _'Shadow clone, figures.'_

The Jounin quickly found an opening and got out of the way of the deathly projectiles. Knowing the three young ninja would use the time when he was still off balance to take the bells, one of his hand immediately covered them.

But then he felt something tugged at his **other** hand.

They wasn't aiming at the bells!

He turned his head and saw a thin, nearly invisible string attached to his book. Before he could do anything the thing was jerked away. Naruto reappeared, took out a kunai and lashed at it, reduced it to tiny pieces of paper flying around. "Told ya I would do this!"

Kakashi stood there, dumfounded. He almost thought they were going to take his precious book as a hostage to trade for the bells. Afar behind him, he could sense Sasuke's presence hidden among the trees. _'Just what is this weird plan?'_

As Naruto grinned, the Jounin felt some thing wasn't right. The scene around him started to blur while the blond's figure slowly transformed into a swirl of leaves then dispersed.

_'Genjutsu! How?!'_ He looked around, finally spotted Sakura, hanging up side down on a tree branch right above his head. She gave him an innocent smile before her body turned to leaves and disappeared, too. _'That girl's got to have perfect chakra control to come that close to me without my notice. Well, she's a medic nin after all. But that doesn't explain how she got me in the illusion.'_ Then he realized, _'The book! She caught me when I focused on looking at all those pieces of paper and let my guard down! That's why they didn't attack me right away, they waited for me to take it out.'_

_'Great! Sakura chan's plan works!'_ Naruto cheered silently in his head. He saw Sasuke gave him a signal and nodded. They both charged at Kakashi, who still caught in Sakura's Genjutsu. Sasuke aimed for the bells while Naruto wholeheartedly aimed to knock the Jounin out cold, take revenge for his earlier misery.

But they both shocked as Kakashi reached out his hands and successfully blocked their attacks. Even more so when they saw his eyes were closed.

"Genjutsu lesson," he said. "High level ninja are trained to fight in complete darkness base on sound alone. So next time, make sure to use a Genjutsu that disturb my hearing as well."

Then he threw the two young ninja away, hard. Naruto at a tree trunk and Sasuke at... Sakura who still hung on the tree branch.

The pink haired girl panicked. Her first instinct was to dodge but then Sasuke would probably be hurt so she used her body to break his fall. However, the force was too much that she lost her chakra hold on the tree and fell to the ground with him. She closed her eyes, prepared for the pain but felt nothing. It turned out that while in the air Sasuke had switched their positions so he hit the ground with her on top.

She immediately moved to a side, sat up. "Sasuke kun, are you alright?" Naruto was whining from the pain not far from them. Sasuke opened his eyes, replied simply, "Aa."

Right then, they heard a ringing sound, it was Kakashi's alarm clock.

"Time's up!" the Jounin informed, he got out from the genjutsu now. "Too bad! None of you was able to take the bells. You know what's it mean, right?"

Sakura looked at Sasuke, she said apologetically, "Sorry, it's my fault. My plan wasn't good enough."

She seemed depressed. Sasuke was trying to say something but Naruto came close to them and beat him to it. "Don't say that, Sakura chan. It's not like Sasuke and I could come up with anything better. We were just unfortunate to have a Jounin as an opponent."

_'Indeed,'_ Kakashi thought as he listened to them. _'If that girl was a bit more experienced and her Genjutsu skill was a bit more advanced. Who knew, they might have succeeded. Hn, with some proper trainings she could become a great strategist, even.'_

"You know," he said, gaining the three young ninja's attention. "It's true, I have to fail or pass the three of you together. You're actually the first team who saw through my deceit. All the others just competed against each other and failed miserably. So as a reward for that, I'll be generous and give you all another chance."

All eyes was now on him with renewed hope or suspicion, in Sasuke's case.

"For the time being, eat your lunch," the Jounin continued. "After that you will have one more hour to come at me with all you've got. That would be your last chance. Understood?"

"Yes, sir!" they replied. Naruto exclaimed happily, "Lunch, finally! I'm so hungry I can eat a..."

"Oh, I almost forgot," Kakashi interjected. "There is a certain someone who will be punish for destroyed my book."

He took a few steps towards Naruto, intimidating. Naruto paled while Sakura protested, "Sensei, that was my plan. I told him to do that. You should punish me, not him!"

"I don't care whose idea it was," he said. "This boy should learn to take responsibility for his action, no?"

"Oi, oi, hold up!" the blond tried to negotiate. "What's so big deal about it anyway? I can buy you a new one."

Kakashi's face darken. "You can't buy it Naruto, you're not eighteen yet. Besides, it was a **special**, **limited**, **extended** edition of the infamous novel **Icha Icha Paradise**!"

Sakura, Naruto and even Sasuke couldn't help but sweat dropped.

* * *

"Why the hell I ended up in this situation?!" Naruto whined.

Kakashi had captured and tied him to the wooden training poll. His two teammates couldn't do anything to help him so they just sat quietly near there.

Satisfied with his work, the Jounin turned to the pink haired girl and the raven haired boy, threw them two bento. "Here your lunch. Hurry and eat them."

"Wait, how about mine?" Naruto yelled, struggled again the robe.

"As part of the punishment, you won't have any," Kakashi replied then told Sakura and Sasuke, "I order you two not to share any of your food with him. I repeat: **'I order'**. You're smart enough to know what would happen to ninja who disobeyed direct order, right?"

They nodded. He started to walk away. "I'll be back in twenty minutes."

Sakura looked at Naruto, a bit of guilt in her eyes. He tried to smile to reassure her. "He he, don't worry Sakura chan. I endured things much worse than this. I'm a ninja after all. No problem!" But then his traitorous stomach grumbled against his will.

Sighed, both Sasuke and Sakura acted at the same time, offered their lunch to him.

"Huh?" The blond was taken aback while his two teammates looked at each other. "Eh, don't do this. Kakashi would exterminate you guys if he found out," he refused.

"So hurry up and eat before he return, dobe. You're no use to us if you're starving," Sasuke said rather irritated, he looked around in caution to make sure Kakashi was no where near.

"No, eat mine," Sakura said. "I don't need as much food and when the test resume you guys probably would end up do the most fighting anyway."

The Uchiha still insisted, "We need you in good condition to come up with a better plan or you'd just be a burden to the team." The blond glared daggers at him but Sakura seemed like she didn't mind his rudeness.

In the end, Naruto's hunger won so he said, "Fine, how about this: I'll eat one third of each bento. That way we all have the same amount of food."

The raven haired boy smirked. "So you know how to do math at least." The blond was gonna give back some witty remark but Sakura stood up, took out the chopsticks and started feeding him. "Open your mouth."

_'This is my lucky day!'_ he thought as he accepted the food and chewed them down.

He soon found out how wrong he was.

The sky suddenly darken. Loud thunders were heard everywhere. Kakashi appeared, looked like the God of Anger himself. **"You!"**

Frightened, Sakura took a few steps back. Sasuke moved to a side, stood in front of her.

"Out of the way!" Kakashi said in warning tone when he came closer to them. "She's the one whom disobeyed my order. She shall be punish!"

"So? Big deal," Sasuke said then took an onigiri in his bento and shoved it into Naruto's mouth, almost choked the blond. "Now you have to punish me, too."

"Yeah! And I'm the one who ate the food." Naruto managed to swallow the onigiri somehow. "If anyone deserves to be punish, is me!"

The Jounin's expression gotten more furious. "Fine then! If you're so willing to take punishment. I'm not gonna just fail you from the test but suspend your ninja career as well! You'll be stuck in the academy for at least ten more years!"

"I don't want to be in a team which lead by you anyway!" Naruto retorted back instantly, too angry to shock at what Kakashi just said. "You weird, tyrannous, unreasonable, ... perverted old man! Just let me out of here. I don't care if you suspend my ninja career. I'll kick your butt then become Hokage just to spite you!"

Kakashi silently watched his students for awhile. After Naruto's outburst Sakura and Sasuke looked at him with anger and defiant attitude as well. None of them seemed like they was gonna back down. He smirked and the sky started to clear up.

"Ok, so I only have one more thing to say to all of you."

…

"You all passed!" he finished, gave them a thumbs up.

…

Widen obsidian, emerald and sapphire eyes.

"What's wrong?" the Jounin asked in confusion. "Feel free to jump for joy now."

"We didn't complete the task..." Sasuke said. "Disobeyed your order..." Sakura continued. "Acted insolently to you..." Naruto added.

"...and we passed?!" they chorused.

The Jounin chuckled. "Well, the purpose of this test never was to take the bells to begin with. I simply wanted to test if you guys could work together as a team."

"Then didn't we proof it already?" Naruto inquired. "Why did you have to tie me here and stuff?"

Kakashi's attitude gotten a bit more serious. "There're more to teamwork than just working together, you know." As none of his students said anything he kept on, "True, all three of you had carried out that plan very well, supported each other. But that was all because this clever girl..." Pointed to Sakura. "...has figured out my bluff too early. So in fact, that wasn't teamwork, just working with other people to gain benefit for yourself with no real risks. When you're a ninja, sometimes they would send your team on missions that have low chance of survival. Would you just abandon your teammates then?"

The three young ninja kept silent. Kakashi turned around, his back to them. For some reason, his voice saddened slightly. "So I tested you guys. Sasuke, Sakura, if you two didn't share your food to Naruto in fear of my punishment, I would fail both of you. And Naruto, if you just let Sakura take the punishment without even tried to defend her, you would fail as well. In the ninja world, disobey direct order from your supervisor is considered a shameful act and you will be punish severely, but in my point of view, abandon your teammates while they're in trouble is a worse thing than that."

Then he walked away. Naruto seemed like he was going to cry. "You know, he's weird, but he's kinda cool, too." Sakura smiled while Sasuke returned to his usual stoic attitude.

"Hey!" the Jounin called back to them. "Let's go grab a proper lunch. My treat."

"Wait a minute!" Naruto yelled when he saw his teammates just followed Kakashi, paying no attention to him. "Aren't you guys forgetting something? I'm still being tied up here!"

He struggled to get out as a kunai flew back and cut the rope, made him fall face first to the ground. "Ouch! That… **teme**!"

* * *

**A/N: **_**I gave Sakura a lot of credit huh? Well, in the manga people call her 'sharp-minded' and 'a Genjutsu type' but she rarely come up with any decent plan and has never use Genjutsu? I guess I wanted to make up for that (even though her plan failed, didn't want to ruin Kakashi's image). Anyway, wait for more of Sakura's action!**_

_**Please review, I'll have inspiration and write faster if you do that.**_


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: **_**Dear my readers! Thanks for all of your reviews! I was kinda worry that no one would like to read a Naruto retold at this point, I'm so happy right now!**_

_**Another thing is that I couldn't get in contact with Cherryblossoms016 so I have to ask you guys, if there any of you who's fluent in English and has time to become my beta-reader? (I'm well aware that my English grammar is terrible.) Please send me a review to tell me and since I still don't know how beta-readers work, tell me more detail about that too. :D**_

_**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto. The original manga belongs to Masashi Kishimoto san.**_

_**Warning: I'm an Asian. English is a lot different from my first language. Please forgive if sometimes the ******__word I choose to use isn't suited_ the context and any spelling- grammar mistake I have made and will make.

* * *

Chapter 3: "The first C ranked mission."

The Third Hokage quietly observed the team that standing in front of him, the team he personally put together. Many had objected his idea, especially the Council. They called team 7 a messed up bunch, could only bring forth misfortune.

So what? Cruel fate had gave the three enough misfortunes already, four if including Kakashi. By put them in the same team he hoped he could somehow change things for the better.

But what if it was for the worse?

A 'puff' sound made him stop his thoughts as Kakashi appeared, gave him a salute. "Hokage sama, you summoned?"

"That was one hour ago!" Naruto remarked. "I can't believe even the Hokage had to wait for you!"

The Jounin nonchalantly answered, "Sorry, I…"

"Got lost on your track of life," his three students said simultaneously. They heard that excuse for so many time they memorized it word for word by now.

The Hokage cleared his throat. "Okay, this is the list of available missions for your team today. They're all D ranked, of course."

Naruto, Sasuke and even Sakura frowned. For the past few weeks they had done nothing but D ranked missions which meant chores, from groceries shopping to baby-sit (Sasuke's face was priceless). Couldn't take it anymore, the blond slammed his hands hard on the Hokage's desk. "Old man! Enough with that! Can't you give us some exciting mission? One that we actually have to use our ninja skills to complete?"

The Hokage calmly replied, "You're just a Genin. Iruka must had taught you that Genin can only receive D or C ranked missions. B ranked is for Chuunin and A ranked is for Jounin."

"Then at least give us a C ranked one!" Naruto still insisted.

_'He got a point,'_ Sasuke thought while Sakura gave the blond a displeased look. _'But did he have to act so insolently?!'_

The Hokage stayed quiet for awhile then searched through his paper work, finally pulled out a scroll and handed it to Kakashi. "Very well, this is an escort C ranked mission. The details are all inside. Good luck!"

The Jounin said as he signaled his three students to follow him, "So we take our leave then, Hokage sama."

Outside of the Hokage's office, he started to open the scroll and read it while kept on walking at normal pace. Naruto talked in a low voice with his teammates, "Hey! Do you guys think we'll get to escort a princess?"

Couldn't help her curiosity, Sakura took a peek at the scroll in Kakashi hands. "I can't see the words clearly since they're too small but according to the picture, our client looks more like a grumpy old man, Naruto," she whispered.

Naruto's face fell then brightened up immediately. "I bet he's an important person, though."

"Don't get your hopes up, dobe," Sasuke deadpanned. "It's just a C ranked mission."

The blond didn't have a chance to retort as they reached the client's waiting room. Kakashi opened the door and stepped in. "Is Tazuna san here?"

There was only one person inside. Sakura recognized him as the one in the picture so she assumed Kakashi wasn't really asking but introducing themselves.

The old man was about 50 years old, dressing in civilian clothes and definitely didn't look like a VIP at all with the way he held a bottle of sake in his hand and drank directly from it. "I'm Tazuna," he said. "So you're the team that in charge of this escort mission."

"Yes," Kakashi answered. "I'm Kakashi. They are my students: Naruto, Sakura and Sasuke."

As the client took a closer look at the three young ninja who still stood behind the Jounin, he scowled. "What the hell?! They're just children! The Hokage actually sent brats to protect me?"

That annoyed all three of them but only Naruto showed it out. "Who did you call brat?! You…"

Kakashi stopped him from saying anything more. "True, they're children but they're with me and I'm a Jounin so you don't have to worry. You'll be perfectly safe, Tazuna san."

The old man still looked at them distrustfully. The silver haired nin continued, "About the mission…"

"I'm a bridge builder and now returning to my village in the land of Wave to build a bridge there," Tazuna interjected. "Your job is to protect me until I reached home and finished my work, simple as that."

_'So it's an escort then bodyguard mission,'_ Sasuke thought, irritated. _'How long does it take to build a bridge anyway? Such a waste of time.'_

Naruto seemed a bit disappointed. The mission sounded so easy and boring. Sakura raised her eyebrow slightly. Escort him home she understood, it was a dangerous world out there, but why would he need protection when building the bridge, too? Was his village full of criminals or something?

"Go back to your house and collect necessary stuffs for the trip," she heard Kakashi ordered. "We'll start in fifteen minutes."

* * *

They had left Konoha for several hours, everything was peaceful so far. Kakashi led the group, Sasuke and Sakura guarded Tazuna from the sides while Naruto followed at the back.

The blond couldn't stand quietness for long so he started a conversation, "Hey, Tazuna san. Does your country have ninja?"

"No." The bridge builder shook his head.

"Eh?! Then what if other country attacks yours?"

"I said we don't have ninja," he corrected. "Our feudal lord has his army though. But his army isn't for hire."

"Oh, that's why you have to hire us, huh." Naruto nodded in understanding.

Suddenly, Kakashi slowed down his pace slightly. It didn't go unnoticed by the only kunoichi in the group and the Uchiha prodigy, they were immediately on alert. A few moments passed until the Jounin stepped on something that made a 'click' sound.

In a flash, Sasuke and Sakura grabbed Tazuna, jumped back as far as they could then pushed him to the ground right before an explosion erupted. Naruto reacted a little slower but managed to get out of harms way as well.

All four got up and looked at where Kakashi was standing but only saw a thick smoke covered the place.

"Kakashi sensei!" Naruto exclaimed, shocked.

"Don't look anymore," he heard a malicious voice behind his back. "There's no way he survived that explosion."

The young ninja stood frozen. He knew he had to do something, anything but his body seemed to not cooperate with his brain so he moved a bit late, received a cut on his hand by a razor-sharp, chain like weapon.

"Sakura, stay with Tazuna!" said Sasuke as he ran forth, threw a shuriken at the enemy's weapon, successfully pinned it to a tree then followed by a kunai to secure it.

The ninja tried to yank his weapon free but it didn't work and got a kick from the raven haired boy. However, his body turned to smoke right after.

_'That was an distraction!'_ the Uchiha thought, alarmed.

He turned around and saw now two ninja charging at Sakura and Tazuna from either side. The girl had took out her weapon but obviously she wouldn't be able to block them both.

"Sakura!" he called out. She instantly understood and moved to deal with the enemy on her left. Using his speed, Sasuke counter attacked the other just in time, held him in a weapon lock.

"Just give us the bridge builder, we'll spare your life," the enemy said, smirking. "You're pretty strong and fast for your age but we're Chuunin, a bunch of Genin are no match for us."

Sasuke replied with his own smirk. "Does that mean you guys are no match for a Jounin then?"

"What are you…" The ninja was unable to finish his sentence when a blur of silver and green appeared, knocked him and his companion unconscious.

"Kakashi sensei!" Sakura said happily.

Sasuke frowned. _'Show off!'_

Tazuna was more than surprised. He stared at the Jounin. "Wait! You're not… How did you…?"

Kakashi took a rope out from his backpack, tied up the enemies. "They hid their trap so clumsily, I noticed it from miles away. Of course I could avoid it but that would just alert them that I was aware of their presence and put us in more danger so why risk it? Besides, they would only show up if I pretended to fall for their trap."

"So you activated the trap on purpose?!" the bridge builder asked, incredulous. "How about your students and I? You didn't even warn us! We could have died, you know?!"

The Jounin shrugged. "Well, they're my students. I knew their reflexes were good enough to avoid the blast and get you out of it as well. However," He turned to Naruto who still stood motionless in shock. "I didn't expect you would panic like that when the enemies appeared."

The blond stiffened then looked up. Tazuna was watching him with something close to pity. He could see worry in Sakura's eyes while Kakashi's expression was hard to read.

"Hey, you're not hurt, are you? Scaredy cat!" Sasuke spoke, not in mocking tone but arrogant one, which was much worse.

"**Sasuke!**" the blond growled, prepared to attack but Sakura stopped him, she sounded concerned, "Don't move, Naruto!"

He averted his gaze to her, a bit taken aback. Kakashi nodded. "You've better listen. Ninja who's send on assassinate task usually has poisonous weapons. Since you received a wound, let our medic check it."

Naruto paled, that was why she told him not to move, moving would make the poison spread faster. He stammered, "I-I'm n-not gonna d-die, right?"

"Calm down!" Sakura said, came close to him while wondering how his attitude could change 180 degrees in mere second like that. "Give me your hand!"

He complied. The medic made some hand-signs then passed her glowing green chakra into his wound. Soon, the black blood which infected by poison was sucked out, gathered and formed a small ball. He watched her with awe as she manipulated the sphere of poisoned blood, threw it carefully to the ground.

"There, your system is clear now," she said. "I just have to close…" Her eyes widen. Even without her healing chakra's support, his wound had starting to close up itself and fast. Noticed her pause, he asked, scared, "What's wrong?"

She shook her head. "Nothing, it's done."

The blond let out a relieved sigh. He stared at his hand now fully healed. "Wow! As good as new! You're awesome, Sakura chan!"

She knew that wasn't all her doing but didn't say anything. Being a medic nin she understood a human who had such fast healing ability was… abnormal and knew better than to mention it in front of everyone. She might ask him later but according to his reaction he probably didn't know about that ability either.

"So why did you wait for so long to appear and let your Genin team deal with two Chuunin all by themselves?" Tazuna inquired, still doubting Kakashi somewhat. "If you just took them down right away the poor boy wouldn't have been poisoned."

Naruto's anger returned when he heard the bridge builder called him 'poor boy' and only able to restrain himself cause Sakura threw him a warning gaze. Kakashi narrowed his eyes at the old man. "Those ninja wear headbands with Kiri's symbol. Konoha and Kiri aren't exactly in good term right now so I'd got to verify which one was their target. Us, ninja from a rival village or you, a civilian who they wouldn't normally attack unless they were hired to do so. It turned out to be the later."

The bridge builder looked like someone who had been caught red-handed, unconsciously took a step back only to notice Sasuke, still standing next to him, gave him a stern look that said, 'You better have a good explanation'.

Kakashi continued, his voice serious, "When you hire us on a C ranked mission it's mean we only have to protect you from thieves, thugs and such. If we knew there are ninja who's after your life this mission would have been B ranked at least. Sure, you must have your own reason but no matter what it is, lying to us is **unacceptable**."

Tazuna gulped. The Jounin turned to his team. "We return to Konoha and report. The Hokage will send a Chuunin team to complete this job if he feels like being generous. Who knows what else this guy is still hiding."

"**No!**" Naruto yelled loudly, surprised everyone. "Are you suggesting we give up on the mission midway?! What kind of ninja does that?! You're a Jounin for crying out loud! Want to return, suite yourself! I'll follow this till the end."

There was a long silence after that. All eyes watched him carefully, some considering his words, some just doubtful. He looked at Tazuna, a fierce determination in his eyes. "I know I haven't done very well until now but trust me, I swear on my ninja headband, I will try my hardest to protect you! If I fail this promise, I don't deserve to be Konoha's ninja!"

The bridge builder was speechless. Kakashi sighed, asked the other two in his team, "What's your opinion?"

"I don't have anything against we continue the mission," Sasuke said simply. In fact, this was exactly what he wanted, a challenge and high level opponents. He just felt a bit uncomfortable since he had to agree with the dobe in public.

Sakura thought for a bit longer then replied, "Shouldn't we give Tazuna san a chance to explain the situation before decide what we'll do?"

_'Cautious as ever,'_ Kakashi thought as he nodded and turned his attention to Tazuna. The old man hesitated for awhile but clearly saw he had no other choice. "Fine, first I guess I'll tell you about the person who hired those ninja to kill me. His name is Gatoh."

"Gatoh?" the Jounin interjected. "As in Gatoh Corporation?"

Naruto gave Sakura a questioning look. She answered with a low voice, "He's a famous businessman, one of the richest people in the world."

"Yes, is him," Tazuna confirmed. "But you should know he didn't gain everything he has right now by a righteous method. His business included trading contrabands, drugs and he even has many gangs of thugs and criminals under his command to destroy anyone that gets in his way."

"Namely, you," Kakashi assumed.

The bridge builder sighed, his face saddened. "About a year ago he took over the shipping business in our country. At a country which consist of many islands, the one who controls the sea, controls everything. We were forced to obey Gatoh and his men if we wanted to have supplies from the main land or export our goods. Unsatisfied with just that, he even raised the price to an unreasonable high while paid us little for our stuffs as well."

"And what did you do to anger him?" Sasuke asked. There wasn't any change on his stoic façade after hearing all that.

"Not what I did, but what I'm about to do," Tazuna answered with a grim look. "I'm a bridge builder, remember? A bridge is what Gatoh afraid most. If our island had one which connected us to the main land he would lose his power over us. That's why he went as far as hired ninja to assassinate me."

Kakashi pondered on the problem. The bridge builder looked like he was telling the truth -besides, he had heard of Gatoh's notoriety before so only one thing left. "Why you didn't ask for a B ranked mission? You'd be much safer, you know."

"I don't have enough money for it," Tazuna admitted. "There are people who supports me in my village but we already spent most of our saving for the bridge. Frankly, if you and your team decided to go back I would have to continue this journey all by myself and no doubt, get killed."

He observed the team. They seemed slightly uncomfortable. Seeing he got the reaction he wanted he kept on, "Oh, don't feel bad for me. I'm an old man with not much time left to live anyway. Just that my grandson would be so sad he'll cry his eyes out. And my poor daughter would have no one to depend on anymore. She'll be miserable for the rest of her life."

He pretended crying while peeked through the gap between his fingers. Kakashi sighed in frustration. Sasuke remained cold. Naruto was even more determined to help the old man now.

Sakura, on the other hand, sweat dropped. _'Why I feel like I'm being threaten?'_

The Jounin said in the end, "Okay, we'll help you out." He asked his team, "Any objection?"

They shook their heads, didn't miss the glint of victory in Tazuna's eyes. "Really? Thanks a lot!" He changed his attitude fast, smiled brightly.

As they prepared to resume the trip, Kakashi remembered something. "Come to think of it, Sasuke, Sakura, you two seemed to cooperate well. Not just then but I noticed it ever since we had our first teamwork training section. Did you two train together before?"

None uttered a word to answer so he took a glance back. Their faces was calm and showed no emotion but they were looking anywhere but each other.

_'Hm… Interesting!'_

* * *

Arrived at the land of Wave, they headed for Tazuna's house, keeping the same formation. There wasn't a second attack yet, but Kakashi knew he couldn't let his guard down. Next time the ninja sent after them wouldn't be Chuunin anymore but Jounin.

Naruto glared fiercely at Sasuke from behind his back. _'This is my chance to redeem myself. I won't let that arrogant teme show me off again!'_ Then he heard something rustled in a bush.

"In there!" he yelled, threw a kunai at the direction. Every one went on alert right away before he turned, threw another one at the opposite side. "No, in there!"

…

"Are you trying to give me a heart attack?!" Tazuna growled angrily.

"Naruto, those are weapons." Sakura frowned. "What if you hurt innocent people?"

The blond paled, dashed to the place where his weapon landed, found a snow white rabbit. Its eyes widen in horror as the kunai merely missed its head a few inches. "Oh no! I'm very, very sorry!" He crouched down and hugged it, almost suffocated the poor creature.

Only the silver haired nin noticed the strangeness. _'This type of rabbits only have white fur during winter, not summer. Unless it was brought here from somewhere cold… Kiri!'_

"Dodge! Now!" he ordered urgently.

They obeyed without questioning, even Tazuna. Just in time before a large, wide sword flew passed them with such high speed despite its own weight. It would have chopped them all in half if they didn't move out of the way.

"What a surprise! I didn't expect my opponent to be you, Hatake Kakashi."

The Jounin looked up, saw a ninja standing on a tree branch not far from them. He had a well-built body with the lower half of his face hidden in bandage, gave him an intimidating aura. The sword had returned to his hand. "Shouldn't I be the one who's surprised? I thought Kiri had branded you as a missing nin after your fail attempt to assassinate their Mizukage. So you still working for them, Momochi Zabuza?"

The man named Zabuza gave a curt snort. "Don't get the wrong idea. I have no relation with those losers who attacked you before. Gatoh simply decided he should hire a different, much better one to finish the job. I did hide in the land of Water though, that's the last place ANBU would think of searching for me."

Naruto took a few steps ahead, ready for battle but Kakashi stopped him with one of his hands. "He's a high level Jounin. You're no match for him, Naruto. Let me deal with this. In fact, I might actually have to use…"

He lifted up his Konoha headband, revealed the hidden left eye. What surprised people, especially Sasuke, was the iris of that eye were blood red.

"Sharingan! Such an honor to get to see the infamous jutsu from the **Copy nin**," Zabuza mockingly said.

Remained unaffected, Kakashi replied, "You know not many has seen it and survived to see tomorrow, right?"

As usual, the blond turned to Sakura when he didn't understand something but this time, instead of answered, she just looked at Sasuke.

"It's a Doujutsu," the raven haired boy said slowly, as if carefully choosing his words. "Simply put, it helps you to perform Taijutsu, Ninjutsu and Genjutsu much more efficiently than you normally could. Of course, there're more to it but I don't think I should tell you guys when we have an enemy here."

_'Strange,'_ he silently thought. _'Only people in the Uchiha clan, my clan, could possess this Doujutsu. How did he obtain it? With three tomoe mean it's already on a high level as well.'_

Without a warning, the battle began. Zabuza jumped out from the tree and landed, standing on the surface of a lake on their right. Kakashi ordered when he spotted the first hand-sign, "Get in formation!"

The three young ninja instantly surrounded Tazuna, took out their weapons in defensive stance. Soon, everything around them started to blur out by a thick mist.

_'Hidden mist jutsu,'_ the Jounin thought, his face was serious. _'So he use his specialty right away.'_

As the mist got thicker and thicker, until they couldn't see anything 10 feet away, Naruto tried to reassure himself, _'No problem! Kakashi sensei said he's trained to fight in complete darkness. This is nothing!'_

_'Zabuza is a professional assassin.'_ Sakura was thinking on the same track but came to different conclusion. _'There's no way he'd make any sound. Even Kakashi sensei would have a hard time dealing with this.'_

Only Sasuke felt the tension in the air. Being the most sensitive one to chakra wasn't a good thing to him. _'It's suffocating! The chakra radiate out from the two Jounin when they prepare for a life or death battle. I don't know how long I can take this before I go insane!'_ He tried to hold his kunai in both hands but couldn't stop himself from trembling.

Kakashi turned his head to them. "Don't worry, I won't let my comrades die. I'll protect you guys with my life!" He smiled.

The raven haired boy snapped out from his thoughts, knowing what the Jounin said were aimed for him the most but didn't have time to dwell on it when Zabuza appeared right in the middle of their formation. "You're sure about that?"

He swung his sword around, ready for the kill. However, Kakashi moved in a flash and blocked his weapon, gave the three Genin a chance to drag Tazuna and themselves out of danger.

They stayed in place, weapons locked. Zabuza smirk. "You're fast, I give you that. But you don't think you can win against me with just speed, do you?"

Then he felt a cold blade pressed on his neck and heard an even colder voice from behind. "No, so how about this?"

The Kakashi in front of him disappeared. He kept quiet for a while before broke in a dry laugh. "I see, you made your clone said all that nonsense about comrades to draw my attention while the real you sneaked up on me. Not bad, not bad."

The silver haired nin stiffened, something wasn't right. Unfortunately, his doubt came true. Zabuza's body turned into water. "But not good enough!" he only caught those words when he received a hard kick on his back, flew a good distance away and fell in the lake.

_'Water? I've got to get out, fast!'_

It was to late. The water on his clothes suddenly gotten so much heavier, rendered him immobile. The assassin flickered in front of him, made some hand-signs then trapped him in a transparent water sphere.

His students were shocked. First, their sensei got kick flying and now, the enemy had holding him captive. Before they came up with anything to do, a water clone materialized, closing in intimidating.

"Run!" Kakashi yelled to them. "Right now Zabuza is occupying with this Water prison jutsu and his clone can't go too far from the original so take Tazuna and escape, hurry!"

Sasuke had calmed down somewhat, he thought over the situation, decided he couldn't listen to the Jounin. _'Even if we successfully escaped this time, Zabuza would find us easily later and then, without Kakashi, we'd get killed for sure. Our only choice is to rescue him.'_

His two teammates seemed to share the same thoughts so he looked at Tazuna. The old man wasn't stupid, he read through their circumstances as well. "Go on, safe your sensei," he gave them approval. "You don't have to worry about me."

Naruto might hate him at first but he sure stopped now. The old man was reasonable and had guts. Kakashi continued when he saw they just ignored his words, "No! Are you guys trying to be heroes? You can't forget our client's life is the first priority!"

"Tough talk," Zabuza remarked. "But in fact you just want your comrades to be safe, right? Just like they know they're out of their league here but stay anyway trying to safe you."

"Fools!" the water clone started to speak. "Konoha taught you to care about pointless things like friends, comrades and justice. That's why you're weak! You have no idea how Kiri trained their ninja."

"In the graduation exam," he kept on, stepped closer and closer. "They divided the class into pairs. Each pair had to fight each other to death. Only the survivor could graduated."

Sakura let out a gasp. The others just stood motionless in place. Zabuza's clone stopped in front of Naruto, too close for the blond's comfort. "Can you imagine that? You studied together, trained together, shared the same dream but in the end only one could live. However, years ago, someone made them change the rules though."

Kakashi narrowed his eyes. _'He just terrorizing the kids.'_

"A boy, who wasn't even old enough to take the test, broke in the school and destroyed an entire class all by himself." The clone smirked, now all eyes was on him, widen in realization. "Yes, I was that boy, Momochi Zabuza, Demon of the Mist."

He punched Naruto. Still in shock, the blond couldn't even move. He faintly heard Sakura said 'Watch out!' before felt the air knocked out from him and flew backwards.

The medic knelt down to inspect him, worried when he started to cough out blood. Then she heard a loud 'thud' from behind and turned around, saw Sasuke lying on the ground as well. He tried to attack Zabuza's clone but it didn't work.

"Forget about it," the clone scoffed. "Wait until you got your name in my Bingo book then come after me."

Sasuke stood up immediately. Naruto's injury was more serious so Sakura had to start healing him. The blond's mind was in chaos. _'Not good. He's too powerful. I have to leave, or he'll exterminate me!'_

He supported himself on his elbows, tried to sit up but spotted something metallic under the clone's feet at that moment.

It was his ninja headband. He startled. The thing probably slipped off his head when he got punched and now the clone was stepping on it.

_**"I swear on my ninja headband, I will try my hardest to protect you. If I fail this promise, I don't deserve to be Konoha's ninja!"**_

He gritted his teeth. _'What am I thinking? I swore I wouldn't act like this. I swore I would protect Tazuna, didn't I? Since when I became a coward?!'_

Something changed in his eyes. He silently gestured to Sakura to stop her healing then got up, made the familiar hand-sign. _'Shadow clone jutsu!'_

Zabuza's clone calmly watched Naruto's copies appeared around him. "So you're capable of this jutsu. Doesn't matter, one or ten weaklings are pretty much the same." He destroyed them one by one with ease until there only one left which was the real Naruto. The blond, however, jumped back to where his teammates was standing before the clone could land a blow on him.

"Running away?" the clone taunted.

"Not even close!" Naruto retorted, showed him the headband he had retrieved. "The real fight only just began. You've better remember my name now to put it in your Bingo book. I'm Uzumaki Naruto, the future Hokage!"

Sakura looked at him with surprise. _'He did all that to get back his Konoha headband?'_

Sasuke smirked. _'This little…'_

The blond tied the headband back on tightly, whispered to his teammates, "Listen, I've got a plan." Then made the hand-sign for Shadow clone jutsu again.

_'What? He told his teammates he's got a plan and just put it right in action without explaining anything?'_ Tazuna sweat dropped.

This time, Naruto created a lot more copies of himself than the last, all charged at Zabuza's clone. The clone remained unimpressed, lashed his sword at them mercilessly. Naruto dodged, pulled out a fuuma shuriken from his backpack. "Don't get so cocky, I still have this! Sasuke!"

Sasuke saw the blond threw the weapon for him and caught it. He paused slightly. _'So this is your plan. Not bad.'_ He glanced at Sakura, she nodded, took out her own fuuma shuriken. They both took a fast, graceful, 360 degrees spin then flung their weapons simultaneously.

"They skipped the clone and aimed straight at me. Smart students you have there," Zabuza said as he watched the deathly projectiles flew towards him. He dodged both of them without much effort but realized there was two others, hidden in the shadows of the two that came first.

Inside the water sphere, Kakashi was surprised. _'Twin shuriken shadow! It's not a very high level jutsu but required perfect cooperation so the four fuuma shuriken won't collide with each other while still able to hit the target precisely. Now I'm just sure they have practiced together before.'_

Zabuza managed to avoid the last two weapons by jumping up, keeping his hand on the water prison that held the silver haired nin. What he didn't expect was one of the weapons turned back into Naruto right after it flew passed.

"Gotcha!" the blond exclaimed victoriously, threw a kunai at the assassin.

Still in the air, he couldn't dodge so he had to release the jutsu and use his own weapon to deflect the kunai away. In mere second, his expression turned furious. "**You!**"

He swung his sword at Naruto but it got blocked by Kakashi. Since the Water prison jutsu had broke, the Jounin now could move freely, even Zabuza's water clone disappeared as well.

"That was your plan right, Naruto?" He praised, "Pretty good!"

The said ninja scratched his head. "He he, I only transformed myself into the fuuma shuriken and used my clone to hand it to Sasuke, intended for him to throw me at Zabuza. I had no idea he and Sakura could pull such a cool technique. The water clone's disappearance was totally a bonus, too."

_'Shut up, dobe. You talk too much.'_ Sasuke frowned.

"Are you kidding me? That was just a fluke?" Tazuna asked disbelievingly. "If your teammates wasn't smart enough to understand your plan, even evolved it, then we would have been screwed?!"

_'That what made the plan a good one,'_ Kakashi thought. _'They had pulled it off without saying a word to each other. Guess my teamwork training has some results after all.'_

"Naruto!" he said calmly. "Go to a safe place. You've done enough, leave the rest to me."

The blond quickly swam away as the two Jounin leapt back and got ready for another round of their battle.

"You just gotten lucky, Kakashi," Zabuza snarled. "It won't happen again."

"Why don't you admit you have lost to my students?" Kakashi coolly replied. "You were forced to break your jutsu, right?"

The assassin let out a roar before started a complicated sequence of hand-signs. His eyes widen when he saw the silver haired nin making the exact same jutsu but didn't falter.

_'Water style. Water dragon!'_

The water behind them rose up, forming two identical, menacing dragons. The dragons attacked and seemed to be equal in power so they canceled each other out, made water falling down like a heavy rain.

Shielding her eyes from the water, Sakura thought in amazement, _'Wow! I've read in my father's book that Sharingan can copy technique but could that call copy? Kakashi sensei had made those hand-signs at the same time as Zabuza, right?'_ Next to her, Sasuke's expression hardened slightly.

"No wonder why you got the nickname Copy nin," Zabuza stated. 'But you can't win if all you could do is mimicking me, you…"

"Copy cat," Kakashi interjected, a glint of amusement appeared in his eyes as he saw Zabuza startled.

_'How did he?'_ the assassin thought and this time, when he opened his mouth, he got a real shock as the silver haired nin spoke his exact same words, at exact same time, "I'll destroy you, monkey!"

_'Is he reading my mind, too? No, I refuse to believe that.'_ He brought his hands together and started another jutsu but Kakashi's body blurred out and slowly turned into a mirror image of himself made him stop dead on his track. By the time he noticed the water around him had moved in a fast, circular motion, sucking him down, it was already too late.

_'Water vortex jutsu!'_ He was bewildered. _'I haven't finish the hand-signs myself! How could he copy it?!'_

The jutsu was powerful. Naruto, unfortunately (or stupidly) still in the water, got threw up on the land. Two pairs of arms caught him before he hit a tree. "Oh, Sakura chan, Sasuke teme, thanks a bunch!" he breathed out.

Zabuza was now out of the water as well but cause he received the jutsu directly he was in much worse condition. He looked up and saw Kakashi walking towards him, a deathly cold in his eyes.

"You, you can foreseen the future?" the assassin asked, his voice barely audible.

The Jounin replied simply, "Yes, I can."

As Zabuza slowly fell into unconsciousness, Kakashi took out a kunai. _'I hate to do this when he's unable to defend himself but guess I don't have any other choice. He's a missing nin, and a dangerous one,'_ he thought grimly.

However, when he raised his weapon to deal the finish blow, he caught some movements out of the corner of his left eye and jumped backwards as a few senbon flew passed, barely missed him.

A ninja appeared next to Zabuza, his face hidden behind an ANBU mask. He said firmly, "Sorry, I can not let you kill this person." Without any explanation, he made a hand-sign and they both disappeared. Everyone stayed silent in shock at the unexpected turn of event.

_'That ninja is powerful,'_ Kakashi thought, took a glance at the senbon which was aimed for him now stuck on a tree, created much more damages than senbon normally could. _ 'Furthermore, according to his voice and height, he's probably just around the same age as my students.'_

Naruto was the first to speak up, "What are we waiting for? Let's chase after them!"

"No!" the Jounin said sternly. "We'll get ourselves in trouble if we do that, especially when most of us are tired, not to mention injured."

"But we tried so hard to defeat Zabuza!" The blond could hardly contain his anger now. "That guy just came and took him away so effortlessly, made us look like a bunch of fools! How can I accept that?!"

"So what? It still happenned," Kakashi deadpanned. "In this world, there are ninja who's not older than you, yet stronger than me."

Sasuke stiffened. They once again fell in silence with a fuming Naruto until suddenly, the Jounin stumbled then collapsed on the ground.

He could only hear his students calling him in worry before everything went black.

* * *

**A/N: **_**If you're wondering why I didn't let Haku pretend to kill Zabuza like he did in the manga then it's because there was a medic there. Haku had watched the battle from beginning to end and saw Sakura healed Naruto so no way he was stupid enough to pull such a trick in front of a medic, right?**_

_**Oh, and I totally made up the Twin shuriken shadow jutsu (upgraded version of the Shuriken shadow jutsu). I fixed the jutsu in the end of the battle between Kakashi and Zabuza too, just thought a jutsu like that would be harder for Zabuza to notice and dodge in time.**_

_**Review, please!**_


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N:**_**My longest chapter ever. I only proofread it one time, hope I didn't miss too many mistakes.**_

_**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto. The original manga belongs to Masashi Kishimoto san.**_

_**Warning: I'm an Asian. English is a lot different from my first language. Please forgive if sometimes the ******__word I choose to use isn't suited_ the context and any spelling- grammar mistake I have made and will make.

* * *

Chapter 4: "Training and the re-encounter."

The first thing Kakashi saw when he regained his consciousness was a glowing green light. He heard the voice of his female student, "You woke up, at last. How do you feel now, sensei?"

"Much better," he answered, noticed he was now inside a small room which only had a few simple furniture. "Where are we?"

"Tazuna san's house," she replied and said when he tried to sit up, "Easy! I healed all your wounds but the worst thing you got is chakra depletion, you would need time to recover."

He looked around. His other students and Tazuna was in the room as well. Tazuna and Naruto watched him with concern while Sasuke were just … being himself.

"Sensei," He turned back to Sakura. "I don't understand. That young ninja, I recognized his mask, it's a Kiri ANBU's mask, right? But if he's an ANBU, why did he save Zabuza?"

"Well," He sighed. "I would like to think he only needed Zabuza alive so he could bring the missing nin back to Kiri for interrogation but we've got to assume the worst, too."

"And that is?" Sasuke inquired with his monotonous voice.

"The young ninja is Zabuza's accomplice."

Kakashi's statement was followed by a dead silence in the room. Tazuna exclaimed in frustration, "What? So it's not over yet? They would return?"

"Yes, but not soon, at least," the Jounin reassured, "Zabuza had received some serious internal injuries which wouldn't heal in a short amount of time so we still can prepare for it."

"It's not like you in any better condition, sensei," Sakura said, folded her arms in front her chest, medic style.

He smiled. "Oh, sorry. I mean: I prepare you guys for it."

His students looked at him with mild surprise. Naruto asked, his expression rather excited than apprehensive, "We? We can do it?"

"Why not? It was thanks to the three of you that we were able to defeat Zabuza, remember?" Kakashi reminded them.

The blond grinned, now fully confident. "Yeah, that's right! We'll kick his butt if he dares to return, believe it!" (A/N: First time I used this, can you guys **believe it**?)

"Nonsense, what a baka!"

Everyone immediately stared at Sasuke, he just frowned. _'It wasn't me!'_

The source of the voice was actually a little boy, about six or seven years old and had a sullen attitude on his face. He went into the room with a young, long bluish black haired woman.

"Inari!" the young woman scolded, "Don't be rude! They have been protecting your grandfather."

Tazuna said as the boy ran to him, "It's okay, Tsunami. I say rude things to them all the time." Then he turned to team 7. "They are my daughter and my grandson."

"Grandpa!" Inari pointed at the team. "Why don't you tell them what they're doing is useless? They would get themselves killed!"

Naruto stood straight up instantly. "What did you say, brat?! Don't you know who we are? We're Konoha's ninja, heroes who can defeat any force of evil!"

His teammates sweat dropped when he took a pose as if there was some amazing aura radiated out from his body when he said that and refused to join his antics. Inari snapped, like something in the blond's words irked him, "Shut up! There's no such thing as hero in this world!"

He stomped out of the room, followed by Tsunami after she gave the team an apologetic look.

_'What's wrong with that boy?'_ Sakura wondered, a bit worried.

_'So pessimistic!'_ Naruto thought sarcastically, _'Compare to him Sasuke is a ray of sunshine!'_

* * *

A few days later, team 7 gathered in the forest near Tazuna's house. Even though Kakashi was still weak and had to move around with crutches he decided he should continue training his students as soon as possible.

"Listen!" he said. "In our last battle I have discovered things you guys must improve in order to fight more efficiently so I came up with this exercise: climbing tree."

"Climbing tree?" his students repeated.

"Yes, but not using your hands. Send your chakra to your feet to do it." And as demonstration, he climbed -more like walked- on a tree, straight up, as easy as on flat land then stopped at the highest branch, standing up side down.

"That's it?" Naruto raise his eyebrow. "I thought it would be something impressive, but it's just like what Sakura did during the Genin exam. You know, when she caught you in that Genjutsu."

_'Don't need to rub it in my face.' _Kakashi landed back on the ground, gracefully even with the crutches. "That's why this exercise is for you and Sasuke only. Sakura will have her personal training with me, on a higher level of course," he added slyly.

_'What is he trying to pull?'_ Sakura narrowed her eyes at him. _'Make my teammates dislike me? If there's something I understand about boys, that is they really hate losing to girls.'_

Sasuke kept his expression calm, but a glint of annoyance could be seen in his eyes. Naruto gaped at the Jounin for a bit then declared, "No way! I'll finish this in a flash then join her!"

"Go on ahead!" He shrugged. "You too, Sasuke. But I warn you: It's not as simple as it seem."

The two ninja got in positions and started running up the trees they'd chose. Naruto was only able to make three steps before slipped down. Sasuke made it higher but had to jump back as he heard the tree cracking under his feet.

_'This is tricky,'_ the raven haired boy thought. _'The amount of chakra has to be perfect. If you applied too little, you'd fall right away, like Naruto.'_ He glanced at the blond now looked pretty frustrated then turned to the dent he created on the tree. _'If you applied too much, the chakra itself pushed you down.'_

"I see," he told Kakashi. "You want us to train our chakra control, right?"

The Jounin nodded. "Precisely. Chakra control is very important when performing jutsu. If you're lousy at it, the jutsu won't reach its highest potential or even won't work at all. You end up wasting your energy and in battle, that's fatal. So I need you guys to train until it became your second nature, understood?"

The two stayed quiet, each one had his own thoughts. Kakashi gave them the last piece of advice, "Next time, use kunai to mark the spot you've been able to climb up to and try advance higher from that." Then he gestured to Sakura to follow him.

The girl obliged. After a few minutes, she asked when she realized they was getting out of the forest, "Where are we going?"

"The construction site," the Jounin replied. "I can train you there while we keep an eye on Tazuna san."

"Didn't you say Zabuza wouldn't recover anytime soon?" She thought for a bit more then assumed, "Oh, there's still that young ninja."

"Yeah," he agreed. "Even though I think the chances are small. If he wanted he could have killed us when we first met him already. He had a perfect opportunity then."

"So why didn't he?" Her eyebrows furrowed.

The silver haired nin contemplated the problem. "Most reasonable explanation would be he and Zabuza aren't accomplices but more like master and student or even master and servant."

"Eh?!" Sakura stopped on her track, surprised.

"Zabuza is an arrogant man," he said. "How would he react if his servant killed the people who defeated him?"

"Not happy, and that's an understatement," the pink haired girl answered. "He probably wanted to kill us himself." She couldn't help but shivered at that.

"Right, then maybe we don't have to worry about the young ninja after all, at least for now," he said, his tone switched to be more light-hearted. "However, that's just theory and we all know Gatoh isn't very famous for his patience so better safe than sorry, we have to keep Tazuna san under our guard."

The girl nodded and they kept walking quietly from there.

* * *

Naruto sat on the ground, panting. He tried the exercise for like hundreds of time now but still unable to make it all the way to the highest branch. His mood gotten worse as he looked at Sasuke's kunai marks, the raven haired boy maintained his lead which meant 7 feet above.

"Arg! Why can't I do it?" he whined, thrashing his arms childishly. "Sakura chan did it so easily!"

"Dobe, she's a medic." Came the monotonous voice, he almost jumped. "Most medics were born with natural talent in chakra control, no point in comparison here."

He stared at Sasuke. The teme'd never said so many words in one sentence like that unless he had to. And did he just indirectly admit that someone was better than him in something? No, he couldn't be that nice. He probably meant: 'She's no good. She's just lucky that God gave her a talent'. Now he wanted to wallop the jerk.

Sasuke sensed the malice, threw the blond a 'what are you glaring at?' look. The blond didn't answer, stood up and walked away. "I'll go check on Sakura chan."

"For what?"

He felt even more annoyed. _'Is he suspecting me?'_ In fact, he planned to ask Sakura for some advices but he would never tell Sasuke that so he stated his other reason, "Like I said, I'll check on her. You seriously think it's okay to let her train alone with our perverted sensei?"

He swore he saw Sasuke's left eye twitched.

"She can take care of herself," the Uchiha said in the end, turned his head back to the tree. "You don't know where they're training at anyway."

Naruto could only stood motionless in place. _'How come he always manage to make me look like an idiot?'_

* * *

The two boys kept training until the sun set then returned to Tazuna's house. They saw Sakura prepared the dining table while humming a tune. Her cheerful mood disappeared when she noticed them entered, bruised all over.

"Let me heal you guys," she offered.

"Safe your chakra," Sasuke coldly replied, seated himself on a chair.

Naruto scowled at him for his blunt attitude, wondered how Sakura could keep her calm still then grinned to her. "These are only minor wounds, they'll heal by themselves in no time, you don't have to do anything, Sakura chan."

"Yeah, and you've trained so hard you must be exhausted by now, don't push yourself any further." Tazuna walked in the room, followed by Kakashi.

The blond gave the bridge builder a curious look. "You saw her train or something, Tazuna san?"

"Well, she trained at my construction site so of course I saw," he said as he sat down, too. "Later, she and Kakashi even went to the market with me and helped carrying the groceries I bought."

Kakashi corrected, "She helped, I wasn't able to do anything with these crutches."

_'Good, she didn't train alone with perverted sensei,'_ Naruto secretly thought. He looked at Sakura. "What did Kakashi sensei teach you today?" Switched to puppy dog eyes (or fox eyes) mode. "Tell me, tell me!"

The pink haired girl was about to answer but Kakashi interrupted her, "Focus on your own training. You haven't succeed, right? Or I should have heard you bragging non stop by now."

"I'll nail it tomorrow, just you wait!" he declared confidently, a bit disappointed that he didn't get to know more of Sakura's training. Across the table, Sasuke threw a doubtful gaze at the Jounin. _'In front that many people, he couldn't teach her any kind of jutsu since those are classified to outsiders. So what's he training her at anyway?'_

No one paid much attention to Inari, who just joined them silently. Sakura helped Tsunami serve the food to everyone then started to eat her potion but soon lost her appetite when she watched the eating contest between her teammates began. She got a feeling that somehow they had became rivals and wouldn't accept defeat.

"I want some more!" they said at the same time, glaring at each other like 'don't you dare touch my food!'.

"Slow down!" Kakashi shook his head disapprovingly, warned, "I know you need a lot of food to have energy for training but if you keep eating like that you'll puke or worse get a severe case of indigestion and have to ask Sakura for help, you want that?"

The two, however, ignored him, kept gulping down all the nourishment there was on the table. Inari observed them for awhile with disgust on his face then huffily left the dining room, half of his food untouched.

Sakura worriedly looked at her teammates. It wasn't good for your health eating so fast, medic's experience. She searched around for something which might distract them.

"Tazuna san, why is that picture missing a big part at the corner?" she asked, pointed to a picture frame on the wall. It showed Tazuna, Tsunami and Inari all smiling happily.

By the way Tazuna and Tsunami's moods suddenly saddened, Sakura inwardly chided herself for said stuffs which she apparently should not. Still, she achieved her original intention. Sensing the change in the air, her teammates stopped their competition and had their attentions on the bridge builder instead.

"There was another person in that part, Inari tore it out himself," Tazuna answered after being quiet for awhile. "It all started three years ago…"

(A/N: You all know the story, right? I couldn't come up with any change to put in it so just let me skip this part.)

* * *

Sakura slowly walked down the stairs, she still thought about the story Tazuna told her team yesterday night. Now she could understand a bit more why Inari acted the way he did, but why was he so insistent that there was no hero in this world while his father, as far as she knew, was a real hero? Yes, he had failed. Did it make any difference? In Konoha, ninja who was KIA had their names carved on the Memorial stone and people called them heroes.

"Good morning, Sakura," she heard Kakashi's calm voice.

"Good morning, everyone," she greeted then sat down, saw the breakfast prepared for her already on the table. "Thanks, Tsunami san!"

Tsunami smiled and returned to her work. Sakura noticed there was one person missing. "Where's Naruto?"

"Hasn't come back yet," Sasuke answered in an indifferent tone.

The pink haired girl looked at him, didn't get it. "What do you mean?"

He sighed, wasn't used to talking so much. "He left to continue training right after yesterday's dinner. Don't you know?"

"No, I was washing dishes with Tsunami san." Then her eyes widened in surprise. "Wait, so he trained all night? He was exhausted even before that. Wouldn't it be bad for him?"

Kakashi waved hid hand dismissively. "No need to worry. Naruto might act silly sometimes but he's a fully-fledged ninja, he can take care of himself."

Sasuke finished his breakfast then stood up. "Hn, I think Sakura were right. He's an idiot he's probably wandering around dead somewhere."

_'How could he twist my words so it became like that?'_ The girl winced, she asked as she saw him heading for the front door, "Where are you going?"

"Out," was his answer before he left. Tazuna commented, "Such a … boy of few words."

For some reason, Kakashi glanced at Sakura, chuckled, made her blink her eyes innocently in confusion. "I'll say he's getting better."

"Oh, Sasuke left already?" Tsunami looked out from the kitchen, frowned slightly. "I was about to ask him to bring some food for Naruto."

"Let me," Sakura volunteered and told Kakashi, "When I return I'll go straight to the construction site. See you there, sensei."

The Jounin nodded. She ran out from the house, soon caught up to Sasuke. He turned his head when he heard her footsteps, raised an eyebrow.

"I bring breakfast for Naruto," she explained, showed him the bento. "He's probably training at the same place as yesterday, isn't he?"

He didn't answer, resumed his walk. _'Is that a 'yes' or a 'I don't know'?'_ She pouted without letting him see that_. 'Did he reach the limit of words he could say in one day or something?'_

"If you're heading there too, can you help me deliver it? I have to go to Kakashi sensei soon for training."

Again, no answer, but this time it was definitely a 'no'. Didn't have any other choice, she followed him.

They walked side by side in quietness. She couldn't help her thoughts from wandering, even though they still didn't talk much to each other –not that Sasuke talked much to anyone for that matter- somehow, they had grown more comfortable in each other's presence. That was a good thing since like it or not, they had to meet almost everyday.

After a few minutes, Naruto came to view. The two saw there was another person with him. He was … beautiful, almost made Sakura mistake him for a girl if she didn't realize the sleeveless kimono he wore was the type for men. He spotted them, stopped his conversation with Naruto then left. There was something about him that drawn the pink haired girl's attention so she kept watching him until he was out of sight.

"What's wrong?" She startled when she heard Sasuke's voice. "No, it's just… I have a feeling like I've met him before."

He turned to Naruto. "Who was that?"

"Don't know, I just met him." The blond shrugged. "He was here gathering herbs, I guess. I didn't even ask his name."

Assumed she was just imagining things, Sakura dropped her doubt, came close to him and handed him the bento. "Here your breakfast."

His eyes instantly lit up. "Wa, you're the best, Sakura chan!"

"Tsunami san prepared that for you." She smiled. "Remember to thank her later."

Surprisingly, the blond didn't dig in right away. He glanced at Sasuke, who now kept quite a distance from them doing a warm up for his training, then looked back at Sakura, lowered his voice, "Hey, can I ask you a favor?"

She nodded. "Yes, what is it?"

"You're good at chakra control." He scratched his head. "How about some advices? But don't tell Sasuke I asked, please!"

The pink haired girl thought carefully for awhile. Actually, control chakra was as normal to her as breathing and she had never wondered how she did it. "Well, the most important thing is don't push yourself too hard or you'll get angry and frustrated, it will disturb your chakra network. Try to relax, feel your chakra flow first. Once you get the flow it'll be easier to manage the amount of chakra you project out."

Then she said goodbye to her teammates and left for training as well. Naruto ate his breakfast while repeated her words inside his head, didn't want to forget them, he intended to put her advices into use as soon as possible.

Stood up, he closed his eyes, made the hand-sign for focusing chakra. _'Ok, relax, feel my chakra flow… Here it comes… I can feel it …'_ His eyes snapped open. _'I got it!'_

He ran towards the tree, certain he would make it all the way to the top this time.

"Naruto."

He tripped and fell. Couldn't blame him, he kinda jumped whenever the antisocial teme started a conversation to him out of nowhere. Turning abruptly, he yelled at the saboteur, "What?! Don't you see I'm busy?"

He might have hit his head and started hallucinating since he saw Sasuke blushing, barely noticeable, but blushing nonetheless.

"You asked Sakura for advices just then, right?" the raven haired boy said, avoided the blond's gaze. "So… what did she tell you?"

Naruto's eyes widened as plates. What was that? The end of the world? Uchiha Sasuke, the prodigy, number one in everything, swallowed his pride to require advices? Then again, the blond recently noticed, sometimes the Uchiha would act out of character when it came to Sakura.

"Why don't you go ask her yourself?" He couldn't waste the chance to get back at his arrogant teammate. "I won't tell you."

_'There, his eye twitched!'_ He sniggered.

* * *

They returned to Tazuna's house much later than the day before. Sakura was standing outside, waited for them with an anxious expression. She exclaimed when she saw them, all worn out and Naruto had to lean on Sasuke for support, "Oh my! Don't tell me you guys trained straight from morning till now. I don't want to have three patients with chakra depletion at the same time!"

"Oi, I'm no patient anymore," Kakashi said, walked out from the house. "No crutches, see?" Sakura threw him a warning glance. "You're not well yet, don't push it."

Naruto, despite how tired he was, grinned to the ears. "Kakashi sensei, we made it! We both made it all the way to the top!"

The Jounin crossed his arms. Sakura's mood turned to cheerfulness. They said 'Really?' but with different tones.

"Yeah!" And to prove himself, the blond looked for the nearest tree, climbed on it before anyone could stop him and hung up side down on the highest branch just like Kakashi did when he taught them. "See!"

However, his chakra was already low so he soon lost his chakra hold. Sakura panicked, tried to rescue him but Sasuke was faster. He ran straight up the tree, hanging on the same branch and grabbed the blond ankle, saved him from falling to his demise. "Hn, you're such a dobe."

The Jounin smiled behind his mask as he watched Naruto let out an angry cry, tried to restrain himself from reach up and punch the Uchiha, knowing they would fall if he did that. To think they completed the exercise in just two days was really impressive, considering they both possessed tremendous amount or chakra, especially Naruto.

"Okay, you guys have succeeded. From tomorrow the team would train together again," he called up to them, his voice as nonchalant as ever. "Now carefully get down before you drop dead, from chakra exhaustion or literally, I'm not gonna take responsible for that."

The boys jumped down, glared at him while Sakura giggled. Then they heard a voice came from the direction of the house, "Why trying so hard? There's no way you can defeat Gatoh."

Naruto turned, saw Inari standing in the doorway, he scowled. "You like babbling nonsense, huh."

Inari retorted, stepping closer to him, "That wasn't nonsense! Gatoh has an army while you guys just have four people, you do the math!"

"Shut up! I won't lose! I'm nothing alike you!" the blond snapped, anger showed in his tone now.

The boy paused a bit, tears started streaming down his face, he yelled, "Don't talk like you understand me! What do you even know? Someone who's always smiling and laughing like you could never understand how I feel!"

Naruto yelled back, "Oh, so you're gonna play the victim here? Keep crying for all I care, you're just a coward!"

"That's enough!" Sakura told him with a stern expression. Inari seemed shocked. Kakashi slightly shook his head. "It's late, go and rest. You have training tomorrow, remember?"

The blond glared the last time at Inari then complied, Sakura and Sasuke followed him. He stomped off to the bedroom, fuming and completely forgot he hadn't had dinner. Sakura sighed, her voice saddened, "Did he have to say all that?"

"He were right though," Sasuke silently said. She turned to him. "But Inari's still just a kid."

He didn't answer, moved to the window and looked outside. Wondered what he was watching, she did the same. They saw Kakashi came close and talked to Inari, "Naruto could be harsh sometimes but he didn't mean anything bad. We've heard about your father. In fact, I think Naruto is the one who understands you most."

Inari looked at him, surprised. He continued, "He's an orphan, he doesn't even know the faces of his parents and before he joined this team he didn't have a single friend. However, I've never saw him cry, sulk or give up. Instead, he's always trying his hardest in everything, doesn't hesitate to put his life on the line if needed. What he told you was cruel but I guess it was the things he kept telling himself everyday."

Inari stayed silent and in the house so did Sasuke and Sakura. The pink haired girl stole a glance at the boy beside her, he seemed deep in thought. She realized even though his personality was very different from Naruto's, their lives was similar in many aspects. She sure hoped they would get along better, preferably become best friends.

* * *

Kakashi heard footsteps from the stairs and looked up, saw Sasuke and Sakura coming down. "Why just the two of you? Where's Naruto?"

"He doesn't wake up no matter how hard we called him." Sasuke had his usual stoic face, his hands shoved in his pockets.

Sakura was frowning, she crossed her arms. "You smacked him on his head when he didn't respond to the first call. I think he's unconscious now." _'So much for getting along,'_ she mentally added.

He just shrugged. Kakashi inwardly grimaced at his student's behavior then decided, "Well, he used up too much chakra yesterday for training, I was planning to give him a day off anyway. Let's go."

So the three of them and Tazuna left the house, headed for the construction site. Sasuke couldn't help but wondered what kind of training Kakashi would give him. It might be the same as Sakura's -then again, she probably had completed it already.

Sakura's pace faltered. Upon noticed that, he turned to her, inquired, "What's the matter?"

She kept silent for awhile, seemed worried for some reason. "You hear anything?" He tried to listen but it was really quiet. "No."

"Exactly," Kakashi said, narrowed his eyes, he realized the problem now. "We're close to the construction site, why there's no sound?"

Tazuna startled. He ran straight ahead, made the three ninja follow him. When they reached the place, they all shocked as all the workers was lying on the ground, injured or worse.

A thick mist started to surround them. Sakura and Sasuke reacted immediately, stood next to Tazuna, weapons ready. They heard a hostility voice, "We meet again, Kakashi."

"You recovered faster than I thought, Zabuza," Kakashi calmly answered to the owner of the voice.

The assassin appeared, the young ninja came with him, his face still hidden behind the ANBU mask. Zabuza weaved some hand-signs then ten water clones materialized around the three Konoha nin and Tazuna. "I see you kept those useless brats. That one's trembling again, pathetic!"

Sasuke looked up and smirked, made the water clone in front of him surprised. "I'm trembling with … excitement!" he said almost arrogantly.

"Go on, Sasuke, Sakura." Kakashi encouragingly smiled. "I'll leave them to you."

In a blink of an eye, the Uchiha destroyed five of the clones. By the time he turned, Sakura was finishing the last of the other five as well. If he was shocked, he didn't show it. _'So Kakashi trained her to improve her speed an stamina huh?'_ he thought. _'He truly seen through our weaknesses. But to think she advanced that fast …'_

Zabuza didn't seem like he impressed much. "Change your strategy and put your students on the front line? Two can play that game. Haku!"

The masked nin bowed his head slightly then started moving in circular motion towards Sakura and Sasuke, so fast he looked like a small tornado. Sakura raised her weapon, prepared for battle but Sasuke told her, "Stay back!"

He took out another kunai, now held one in each hand and blocked Haku's attack. The two exchanged some blows before stood still in a weapon lock. "Do you realize I'm holding two advantages over you?" the masked nin asked in an emotionless tone.

"Oh, what are those?" Sasuke raised his eyebrow, that wasn't enough to stop the smirk on his face.

"One, we're surrounding by water," Haku slowly replied. "Two, I'm keeping one of your hands busy." And he made hand-signs with just his free hand.

Even Kakashi was surprised. _'I've never seen anyone capable of that!'_

The water flew up in the air, gathered and formed hundreds of senbon, aimed straight at Sasuke. He closed his eyes, focused his chakra. _'Stay calm, I've trained for this.'_

Haku jumped out before the senbon hit, but when he looked at the place, the raven haired boy had disappeared. "Doesn't seem like you can catch up to my speed," he heard a voice from behind. "Now it's my turn to attack."

He moved, avoided Sasuke's first strike. Sasuke threw the other kunai with a flick of his wrist made the masked nin has to crouch down to dodge only to receive a hard kick and flew backwards.

_'He's faster than Haku?' _This time, Zabuza actually shocked, still, he covered it well.

Haku stood up, no one was able to see his expression because of the mask. "How long you're gonna keep going easy on him?" Zabuza said strictly.

"Sorry, Zabuza san," he obediently replied. "I'll finish this quick."

He performed hand-signs, chakra started to project out from his body, into the air. Soon, Sasuke felt the temperature dropped down drastically. Sakura ran to him. "It's bad! You've got to …" She didn't continue her warning as ices appeared around and above them, small at first but growing bigger and bigger until they became twenty ice mirrors, formed a dome, trapped them inside. Haku's image was seen on every mirror and they couldn't tell which one was real, which one was just reflection.

"I'll show you my true speed," Haku stated. What happened after that was too fast for the two Konoha ninja to see. They only felt their skins got cut repeatedly and all they managed to do was stayed in defensive stance, tried protecting their vital points.

Kakashi stepped up, intended to help them but Zabuza took out his sword, threatened, "Try save them and I'll kill the bridge builder."

_'He got me,'_ the Jounin worriedly thought. _'I can't leave Tazuna san unprotected. But how long Sasuke and Sakura could last under that jutsu?'_

"Forget them," the assassin continued. "Once trapped inside the Crystal ice mirror jutsu their lives considered finished."

The attack ceased, seemed like Haku had done with his first assault. Sakura, now injured all over, forced herself to think straight after the panic. _'Why did he stop? May be this jutsu has time limit?'_

Sasuke wasn't in any better condition, he observed Haku's image on the mirror, tried to figure the jutsu out. _'Now there's just one of him. His image only appeared in other mirrors when he prepared to start an attack. Did he use shadow clones or water clones? No, then he wouldn't need the mirrors, and even if that many of clones all threw senbon at the same time it couldn't be so fast that I was unable to see the direction of the weapons. What's the trick here?'_

They stiffened as Haku pulled out another senbon, ready for round two, but then a shuriken flew towards the mirrors formation, hit straight on Haku's mask when he turned around and made him fall to the outside of the jutsu.

"Don't worry, Uzumaki Naruto is here!" came a loud voice accompanied by the sounds of smoke bombs went off. "Heroes always appear last, right?"

…

_'Baka!'_ Sasuke scowled. _'He'd got the surprise element and just ruined it!'_

_'Ninja use smoke bombs to escape not to appear!'_ Sakura had no idea if she should laugh or cry. _'And wasn't the mist enough?'_

Haku got up, there was a scratch on his mask now caused by Naruto's shuriken. He mumbled, "Uzumaki Naruto."

Without warning, Zabuza threw shuriken at the blond. Everyone was stunned when Haku used his senbon to stop the weapons on their track. "What you think you're doing?" the assassin asked sternly.

"Please, let me fight my own way, Zabuza san," he answered. Zabuza snorted. "You're still too soft."

"Soft?" Sasuke muttered. Sakura inspected her wounds and his then said, "He's right. All our injuries are only scratches or shallow cuts on the skin. It wasn't like we could dodge, if he intended to kill us we would have became two porcupines by now. Hn, unless he's a psycho and just wanted to torture us, then it's a whole different matter."

The Uchiha looked at her weirdly, never knew sometimes in crisis her twisted sense of humor came out. Ignored his reaction, she kept on, lowered her voice, "About this jutsu, I think if we attack from the inside while Naruto helps us attack from the outside we could break it or figure out how it works at least."

He returned to seriousness and watched Haku stepping closer to the blond. "Good idea, but it seems Haku plans to kill Naruto first."

Unexpectedly, the pink haired girl threw a shuriken at Haku through the gap between the mirrors, which he dodged easily.

"Oi, you!" she yelled, with the tone of a spoiled child asking for attention. If Sasuke were someone else and they wasn't in a life threatening situation he would have sweat dropped. "We haven't finish here!"

Haku turned to them, his voice hardened, "Guess I'll deal with you later, Naruto. Now I have to finish my battle with them, to the death!"

They backed down warily as the masked nin went into the mirror again, inwardly hoped their teammate would understand the plan.

…

"Know what? Turns out this jutsu won't let people get out but lets people get in."

…

The two turned around, Naruto was behind them. Sasuke's eyes widened, he couldn't believe even the blond could be this stupid. Sakura had the urge to just hit her head somewhere and die (preferably, the mirror, might break the jutsu, who knew).

Kakashi, witnessed it all, sighed deeply. _'You sneak behind your enemies back, not your allies, Naruto.'_

"Are you a ninja?!" Sasuke snapped. "Think before you act!"

"You're talking that way to the one who came to save you?" the blond retorted.

The Uchiha was about to say something more but Sakura interrupted him, "Forget it! Try come up with a new plan don't blame each other for the ruined one!"

"Why bother? The dobe would mess it up anyway. I'll use direct approach." He made the hand-signs for his signature jutsu. _'Fire style. Fire ball.'_

Sakura pulled Naruto backwards a bit to avoid the heat as Sasuke's flame engulfed the mirror which had Haku in. However, the flame then died out, revealed the mirror intact.

"You'd need a much more powerful flame than that to melt this mirror," Haku calmly said.

"Oh yeah? How about this?" Naruto exclaimed, made his own jutsu. _'Shadow clone.'_

Both Sasuke and Sakura yelled 'Don't!' but it was too late. The blond's clones charged, each one at a mirror. Haku's images appeared everywhere again and in mere second, all of them were destroyed. The real Naruto fell to the ground, cut and scratched just like his teammates.

"Don't think I'll give up just like that," he stubbornly said. "I still have to achieve my dream."

Haku paused slightly then solemnly answered, "We're all fighting for our dreams here. I have someone who's very important to me. To help and see him attained his goal is my dream. It's just unfortunate that our dreams conflict with each other. Please don't take this personal."

_'Is he patronizing me?' _Naruto thought angrily and used the jutsu once more, paid no attention to his teammates protests.

But turned out, his effort wasn't wasted. This time Sakura and Sasuke spotted something when Haku attacked him and the clones.

_'Was that what I think it was?'_

_'Barely there, but I saw him!'_

"Can you do that again?" the raven haired boy asked, his tone was more like demanded.

Naruto grinned confidently. "No problem!" He created even more clones than before. They declared, "We'll smash your mirrors to pieces!"

The other two Konoha nin hid behind some clones, secretly prepared their jutsu. Haku moved to strike, didn't expect he would get into an ambush. The kunoichi and the Uchiha directed their jutsu carefully so they wouldn't cancel each other out.

_'Water style. Water spear.'_

_'Fire style. Fire ball.'_

(A/N: Yeah, when I compared them with water and fire in the summary, I did mean it.)

Caught off guard, Haku didn't dodge in time. When he returned to his mirror, he startled that he now had a hole and a burn on his clothes. _'Impossible! One could be a lucky shot, but two?'_

Sakura smiled while Sasuke smirked.

_'We got it! We don't have to catch up to his speed.'_

_'We just have to get the right timing!'_

Seeing their first counter attack was very promising, Naruto repeated his jutsu over and over. However, now Haku had been more cautious, his movements became irregular, harder to predict and he attacked Sasuke and Sakura as well, not just the clones. Busied with dodging made it really difficult for the two to aim properly. Soon, the blond was exhausted from continuously dividing his chakra.

"Naruto, are you okay?" Sakura asked when she saw how pale he was.

"I'm… okay…" Even though he said that, he sounded breathless. Then suddenly he collapsed right when Haku started another attack. Sakura and Sasuke dashed to him, deflected all the senbon aimed for their teammate.

"Dobe, get up!" the Uchiha commanded. "We can't protecting you like this forever!"

"Who asks you to?" the blond replied, tried to force himself up but failed and fell back down, this time unconscious.

_'How did they…?'_ Haku wondered in astonishment. _'I aimed at their vital points but they just deflected them all. They wasn't even able to do anything before. How could any normal ninja advance so rapidly?'_

Sasuke sighed, now it would be much more complicated to escape. He closed his eyes. _'It haven't complete yet, but I have to try.'_ When he opened them, his Sharingan had activated, he had two tomoe in the left eye and one in the other.

"I see," the masked nin said. For some reason, there was a hint of grief in his voice. "This jutsu allows me to move with the speed of light. It was supposed to be impossible to track me, let alone block my attacks, but both of you are also…"

_'What does he mean both of us?'_ Sasuke thought, didn't understand at first. Then realization hit him. He turned his gaze to Sakura.

Her eyes had changed into a darker shade of green, making her look somewhat mysterious. A black patent appeared, formed the shape of a blooming cherry blossom in each of her irises.

_'Hanagan!'_ He was speechless.

He knew the Haruno clan possessed this Doujutsu, he was just surprised cause the gene was recessive and since Sakura'd never used the jutsu before he had assumed she didn't have it. He searched his memory, tried to remember Hanagan's ability.

_'If I'm not mistaken, on the first stage, the Hanagan provides some sort of sixth sense, helps the users sense the direction of every attack aims at them in the radius about 20 feet, no blind spot.'_ He smirked. _'No wonder she was able to dodge Haku's senbon. You'll react faster when you sense the attack than see it. Good, if we work together we can break this jutsu.'_

Haku was deep in his thought as well. He silently calculated, _'I didn't expect I would have to fight two kekkei genkai ninja at the same time. The more this battle prolong, the more disadvantages I'm in. Sharingan would read through my jutsu while Hanagan would figure out my movement patent. I've got to end this fast, but how?'_

His eyes diverted to Naruto, now laying on the ground behind his teammates. _'They're quite protective over that boy, he's their weakness!'_

The masked nin started attacking, pretended to aim at Sasuke and Sakura while in fact, directed his senbon precisely to force them back away further and further from Naruto. When they realized Haku's plan, they was at a distance too far to rescue the blond.

Pumped chakra to their feet, they tried to run as fast as they could as Haku charged straight at their teammate.

_'_**_No, I have to stop him!_**_'_

* * *

**A/N: **_**Yeah, Sakura has a Doujutsu! I know Hanagan's ability is similar to Byakugan right now but it would have other abilities when it evolved (yes, evolved). However, I'm not planning to make it too powerful since if it was Orochimaru would target Sakura instead (cringed). Um, unless you guys think it'll be an interesting twist then maybe I'll consider it.**_

_**And I'm sorry if you don't like the name Hanagan. With my limited Japanese vocabulary I could only come up with that. Feel free to suggest other name for me if you want (tell me the meaning, too). I won't promise that I would use it but if I did I would give you credit in my author's note. n_n**_


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